Take the body and give me the rest (9 page)

Seth woke to
the morning light finding its way into his room, feeling incredibly
well rested in spite of the horrible dream and his realisation that
he had indeed killed the mother of the minstrel girl in taking
Josephine. He put his Northern nature to work on the guilt and
started grinding away at it with wisdom of his volk. The only good
enemy was a dead one; she had the same in store for you. You’re a
soldier. Life is a battle. And, finally: fuck them both. Who cares
anyway?

The sun shone
down on the deck and Lady Elizebetha—or Elizebetha, to her
face—intended to spend most of her time on it talking with her
attendant while Seth wandered up and down the deck. It was nice to
be a man of leisure and watch the common sailors handling the tasks
that were normally set aside for men like him. Somehow, he’d jumped
from a world where his only value was brute force and the strength
of his back to one where he had skills, training and knowledge.
Him, Seth, being called ‘Young Master.’ Even the ship’s Officers
gave him nods of respect as he passed.

That night,
instead of retiring early and unsuccessfully trying to open doors,
he walked the deck and soon found himself near the figurehead. He’d
never actually spent the time to look at it. He had avoided the
sparring area in the daylight hours just in case. Now it was vacant
and lit with lamps. He shrugged off his cloak, which was much too
warm anyway, and stepped onto the empty space of the deck.

Drawing his
rapier and dagger, Seth went through forms. They came from nowhere,
unbidden. Forms and sets of actions, attacks and blocks, faints and
side-steps. Seth was getting a feeling of someone but not the
General. Feeling something, Seth tried a move in which he stamped
down with his foot to the imagined foes instep then spun fully
around with a backhand slash of the dagger. It was a deadly move
but risky, one that he knew the General would never perform. But
where had it come from?

‘You must have
trained in Pelloss,’ a female voice said from the shadows.

Seth lowered his weapons as the Pellosina tutor of the
Captain’s son appeared in the lamplight. In the soft glowing light,
she looked like a vision of lust. Pellosi women are renowned for
being very womanly. She had a beautiful strong face with brown eyes
and long brown hair hanging down her back in a clasp. She wore a
thin white top that accentuated her lovely curves
.
Seth realised that he was staring at her like a soldier at a camp
follower.

He coughed.
‘Hello, your name is Minsetta, right?’ he asked quickly.

She smiled at
him amused, knowing his mind. ‘It is, young Master Seth. I remarked
that you must have trained in Pelloss. That move is one I have only
seen there.’

He thought of
all the General’s memories of Pelloss. He had lived there, but he’d
never trained in this style; it was too wild, heathen,
un-reserved.

‘Yes, I was
lucky enough to train and live there for a short time.’

‘You are very
young-looking to be so good at everything.’

He laughed.
‘Truly I am an old man, and I just use this young body for the ease
of it,’ he said.

Her lovely
brown eyes widened. ‘What an interesting thing to say.’

Seth hoped he
hadn’t scared her off with his talk. ‘Just a joke, that’s all.
Sometimes I feel that way is all, do you know this style well? Did
your brothers perhaps train in it?’

This time she
laughed openly at him. ‘You must have had a strange teacher indeed.
The style you are practising is called the night blade. It’s only
practised by women in Pelloss. They don’t use the sword at all,
only the dagger. It’s a form of protection against our overly
zealous men.’

Seth didn’t
feel embarrassed but felt the connection growing stronger now, with
that someone else growing in his mind. He felt that he need to
grasp this right now or it would go. He only had a moment, and
quickly he cast the rapier aside and sank into a low crouch with
the dagger thrust forward.

He almost
yelled at her, ‘Come now attack me and let me learn it
properly!’

Like a cat
leaping from the darkness, she brought a knife out from somewhere
hidden and dove forwards slashing the shining blade at him. He
rolled backwards out of the way, just avoiding it. No blocks, he
knew, only avoid. Speed against strength. He slashed at her and
lunged with his elbow narrowly missing her perfect face. Attack
with everything, he could feel it. She thrust at his chest but a
fraction or two slower than fighting speed. He stepped sideways and
slapped her hand. Grabbing the knife hand, he pulled it back and
dropping his own, he brought his hand up inside her guard and
lightly, so lightly, slapped the side of her face.

She dropped her
knife also and smiled at him broadly. ‘Well, you do know the game
properly.’

She reached
over to his face and also lightly slapped him twice on the cheek.
As she did, he felt the connection. She bobbed up from the dark
ocean like a capsized ship from the General’s mind and into his. A
woman warrior, a champion of the Pellosi style. The General had
felt insulted by her rough, dirty style, but had wanted her speed,
her balance and her poise. He saw her knocked unconscious by some
soldiers in a Pelloss alleyway, taken to a large building in the
main street of Pelloss and chained hand and foot in a dirty
basement. The General called the creature to end her. She hadn’t
even woken back up. Seth could see her face. She was older than
he’d thought, fifty years at least, tough and rugged but beautiful
and strong. A scar under her left eye only made her more so.

Minsetta looked
at him, unaware of the discovery that had just found him.

‘Seth, who was
your teacher? They must have been very skilled,’ she said.

Seth spoke with
pride. ‘My teacher was known as Arisetta.’

Minsetta looked
startled. ‘Arisetta, the champion of five years, the blade in the
night herself.’

‘I know it’s
hard to believe, but it’s true,’ he said, not caring if she
believed or not.

‘If anyone but
you said it, I would call them a liar. But you are proving to be a
very strange and interesting boy,’ she said.

He laughed and,
pushing his luck, put his arm around her waist and pulled her close
to him as they stood on the deck ‘I’m a strange and interesting
man.’

Chapter 11

Dirst passed a
small leather satchel from his hand to the man standing with him at
the docks. There was nothing secret about their business as navy
men often took personal notes and messages when they were
travelling long distances. Some turned it into a nice side income
to offset the roughness of the trip and meanness of conditions.
They travelled aboard small sailing ships that also had large oar
decks—when the wind stopped blowing, the ship still needed to move,
even if at a much slower pace.

‘
The Opulent
left shore almost a week ago. Will you get to Dacar before it
does?’ Dirst asked.

The man replied
with a smirk, ‘That wallowing whale of a ship takes its sweet
luxurious time doing anything. We’ll get there a full week before
they do; don’t worry on that account.’

‘And you can
get the message to the intended without raising any notice?’

‘Everyone on
these passenger ships comes ashore when they get the chance. It
won’t be hard to pick out your friend on board, from the
description, and pass them your note. Pretty important stuff, hey
Dirst?’

‘Extremely
important,’ Dirst said, pressing a gold coin into the man’s
calloused hand.

‘Consider it as
a task already done.’

Seth got to see Minsetta naked that very night. As they stood
with his arm around her
on
the deck with sword and daggers lying around them
, she
simply turned around, taking his larger hand in her small light
brown one and led him away from the deck. He’d have to hope his
weapons we’re still there later; he wasn’t going to stop this. They
ducked and weaved in the moonlight, passed the sails of the main
deck and were soon in some corridors that he hadn’t seen before.
The corridors were wide enough to house the occasional shaded lamp.
Minsetta pulled a small key from somewhere and opened a door that
was barely visible in the lamplight.

Her room was a lived in larger version of his own. They called
tutors Masters, and they accorded them all respect. In the middle
of her room was a large queen-size
bed,
neatly made, and, in the corner, a desk with scribing tools and a
small pile of very old battered books. Minsetta pushed him
forcefully through the doorway. Seth turned quickly and felt her
soft lips press against his own. Parting them, she kissed him
deeply and slowly, her tongue finding his. He reached behind her
neck, fingers sliding through her soft brown hair, and pulled her
closer to him, enjoying the sensation of her precious lips, the
smell of her hair and her large, firm breasts pressing against his
chest through her thin white shirt.

Luck was always
a friend to him, he thought as she shoved him backwards onto the
bed. He was more than happy to let her take charge and let it all
wash over him. He wasn’t nervous but a little overcome that this
was happening with such a beautiful and incredible creature as
Minsetta.

She straddled him on the bed, fully clothed, and leaned down
to kiss him again. She teased him, pressing herself against him,
then pulling back, smiling at him with perfect white teeth and soft
lips that he wanted to devour. Seth felt something growing inside
of himself. It was a different sort of hunger
to the deep blood lust he’d felt in Yend’s
basement. It was joined by a soft roaring in his ears and mind that
was starting softly . . . but he could tell would soon be
deafening.

She rolled from
on top of him to stand beside the bed. Taking his hand, she guided
him up from the bed as well. She smiled at him again. ‘We are
wearing many too many clothes. Take them off, young Master.’

A quick memory
burst in his mind. Take off the boots first, it said; common sense,
but he felt the traces of some embarrassing memories of regrettable
scenes grown for situations like these. He quickly unlaced his
boots and placed them near the bed. Turning to her, he unbuttoned
his black shirt and threw it to the floor. He could feel the
intensity of the feeling growing and growing; it was expectation,
lust, and desire to see her, to have her, but also an avalanche of
memories and life ready to crash down on him. He smiled at the
thought of the storm to come. Fearless, he unbuckled his belt, let
his pants drop, kicking them away to stand in front of her
naked.

She proved
herself fearless as well as she slowly unbuttoned her thin white
shirt from the top, slowly revealing the full curves of her breasts
and sweet brown skin. Seth wanted to rip the shirt away and reveal
her fully but submitted to the show. Once unbuttoned, she shrugged
the shirt off her small shoulders and stood proudly in front of
him. A minor flood of memories hit Seth in droves, every woman that
the General had ever seen before naked flashed before him. Those
few that Yend had lain with and even Josephine’s male lovers.
Compared to handfuls of new images swimming in his mind, Seth knew
without a doubt he was creating the best memory of all. They all
paled compared to Minsetta.

Her skin was starting to goose-bump slightly as she stood
naked before him, letting him drink in the vision of her. He felt
another rip inside and the hunger was on him. He wrapped his arms
around her waist and, lifting her from the ground pressed his
smiling
face between her delightful breasts. She laughed out loud at
his playfulness. When he had let her back down, she again pushed
him back onto the bed. She undid and slid off her skirt followed by
light and delicate petticoat as she approached the bed.

She crawled up his body
to
his mouth, kissing him. He could feel the hunger and lust pounding
through his entire body. All he wanted to do was throw her down on
the bed, enter her and own her. It was a primal urge but one that
felt powerful and good. She pressed down against him, running her
dark nipples against his strong chest. They kissed with passion,
and he felt her grinding herself against him. His cock was hard in
just moments, the thought of entering her thrilling him. She kissed
and grinded herself against him. He could feel the warm, wet,
sweetness on his cock.

She leaned back
from him, showing him all of herself above him. It was the best
view he’d ever seen in his short life. Reaching down she gently
took hold of his rock-hard cock and brushed it against the lips of
her soft pussy once, then twice, then guided it inside her. Slowly,
slowly, she lowered herself onto him. A sensation of pure
gratification ran through his body, such a physical pleasure in her
hot tight wetness. The knowledge that it was her as well, that this
incredible creature wanted him, wanted him inside of her, wanted to
share herself with him gave him so much pleasure. Seth reached up
and taking her caramel hips in his strong hands pulled her down
hard onto his shaft.

Now came the
avalanche. As she rode him, grinded her hips, smiled a wicked and
brazen smile, he was washed with not only the pleasure of their act
but of all the memories as well. Stephan’s first sexual experience
as a surprisingly young man, all the women, lovers, prostitutes and
experiences he had known since then. Seth saw it all and was
staggered. All the things he could do with Minsetta’s delightful
body he now saw as possibilities. This was just the first drop in
the waterfall of what he wanted to experience with her.