Chapter 7:
On the Edge
Before long Nameless and the three girls were walking into Bramblewood, which turned out to be a collection of wooden buildings surrounded by a crude palisade.
Loud music, crude voices and raucous laughter greeted them as they walked into town. It was a rough and tumble place and the appearance of the imposing Kar did nothing to change that, though the locals did make a point of getting out of her way as she strode down the muddy street.
As far as Nameless knew the only people that lived here were trappers, tamers, and the people who ran the shops that supplied them. And though the unshaven men did give the Amazon a wide birth, there were a great many leers directed at Erica.
One particularly drunk man stumbled out of a nearby pub, shook his head to clear it, then his eyes grew wide as he took in the sight of her.
Her ears flattened at his lewd smile.
The man stumbled towards them, tripping over his own feet and landing in the mud before getting up right in front of her and Nameless.
“Hey… you-” He hiccupped, then his cheeks billowed out in a barely contained belch as he leaned towards the younger man; “She’s a new one! Are you -hic- open for business?”
Nameless’s jaw dropped, Erica hissed at him, and Ophelia gasped, but Kar simply put her hand to the man’s forehead and pushed him over in the mud and kept walking.
He was snoring a second later.
“Places like this bring out the worst in men like him.” She sniffed; “We should hurry and get what we need.”
Sadly this was but the first of many such encounters in the muddy streets, and it soon became clear as to why.
One of the larger buildings in town was a flamboyantly painted three story affair with a number of lingerie clad Katje lingering all around it; some were actually curled up on the open window sills even as high up as the third floor.
“The… Cat-House?” Nameless read off the large sign over the front door.
“Hey sugar, only eighty bits for the best ride of your life.” One cream-coloured Katje had spotted him and called out in a husky purr.
She was wearing nothing but red underwear and a similarly red feather boa. As she spoke Nameless finally clued in as to what, exactly, the Cat-House was…
“Let’s keep moving, unless you want to spend some coins?” Kar said coldly.
Nameless was pink by then, but he sensed something from one of the heartstones on his arm.
Erica was mortified.
“Erica…”
The emotion was quashed as quickly as it came and the Katje grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the whore-house.
“Come on Master! Kar is right, we need to get our shit and get out of this place.”
“A-Alright.”
But he saw her wipe away a hot tear from her cheek.
Kar caught the exchange and also saw the look on Erica’s face. So when the next man made a pass at the Katje, she seized him by the shirt and threw him into a pile of rubbish bins against the side of one of the rough wooden buildings.
“The next drunken fool to proposition my friend will taste the end of my spear!”
She called out loudly for all of the nearby men to hear.
Ophelia sighed.
“So much for not drawing attention.”
But at least Erica wasn’t likely to receive any more offers.
“Thanks.” Erica’s voice was tiny.
“Bah, make no mention of it, sweet girl. And just ignore these scum. I have not seen a single man since we walked through those walls, only greedy boys!”
“That hurts my feelings a bit.” A voice drawled.
They turned to see a man in a wrinkled security uniform sauntering up to them.
“The name’s Jared, and I’m the law out here. You know, technically you just committed assault.”
He sounded apologetic as he gestured at the downed man with his other hand resting on his hip.
Kar laughed.
“Will you detain me then? Do you think you have the strength to master me?”
He was shaking his head before she finished though.
“Nope, no one is going to master or detain nothing. Just mind you don’t commit more than assault. If bodies start dropping I’ll have to get involved. And try to go easy on these men. They’re hard workers when they’re sober.”
Kar sniffed again.
“Drunk or no, we are all judged by our actions. So if another one of these boys bothers her again, I will keep my promise. This Katje is no trollop for you or your friends to play with.”
With that she turned away and they kept moving, the lawman’s eyes tracking them all the while.
After they had stocked up from the local provisioner they were stopped one more time, though by a much different person. A tiny monster girl with dark brown hair, rounded grey ears and a skinny pink tail tugged on Nameless’s pant leg.
“Hey! You need any more supplies? I know a better place! Great prices!” The little girl shifted from one foot to the other excitedly.
Ophelia frowned at the sight of the young girl, barefoot in the muck and clad in worn clothing.
“Goodness dearheart! Where are your parents?”
The little girl shifted back on her heels.
“Don’t have any.” She said defensively.
Ophelia tsked.
“Well, then who takes care of you?”
Nameless recognized her tone immediately, he had heard it many times before. If there was one thing Ophelia understood above all else, it was children.
The little mouse girl smacked one fist to her chest, though her eyes shimmered a bit.
“I take care of me! Cuz I’m tuff.”
Ophelia adopted her best stern look.
“Young lady, you are far too young to take care of yourself. Now why don’t you come with us and we can get you something to eat?”
The girl’s brave expression faded a bit and she swallowed as her eyes flicked to Nameless for a moment.
“I won’t, I won’t have to do any grown-up stuff will I? Cuz the girls from the Cat-House warned me about that.”
Nameless grimaced but it was Erica who replied.
“Kiddo, if someone tries to make you do anything like that I promise you it would end very badly for them.”
She was twirling one of her knives between two fingers and the little mouse smiled at the Katje’s posing.
“Okay! Just let me get my bag!” As she turned to leave she paused; “My name’s Mishka!”
She scampered away and slipped under a nearby porch.
But Kar was shaking her head.
“Ophelia, this urchin will play on your compassion and no doubt try to steal from us, we should leave.”
The Flutterby shifted to face Kar and the warrior actually stepped back at the heat of her glare.
“Of course she will! And in the process of stealing from us she will get a hot meal and a warm bath. Two things she clearly needs.” Her look softened and she smiled confidently; “I spent three years working with children just like her in the slums outside Algrade, so believe me when I tell you there isn’t a trick this girl could pull that I haven’t seen before!”
Kar still looked skeptical but she didn’t off any more objections.
Mishka soon returned with a small canvas sack over her shoulder, though now she looked a little shy.
“I told you my name…” She hinted.
“Yes you did dearheart. My name is Ophelia, but you must call me Mistress Ophelia.”
The girl blinked her wide eyes.
“How come I gotta call you that?”
Ophelia reached down and crooked her fingers under the mouse girl’s chin to turn the girls face up to meet her kind eyes.
“Because dearheart, it shows me that you are willing to behave, and only if you are willing to behave can we be friends.”
The girl’s jaw jutted out pugnaciously.
“What if I don’t wanna?!”
Ophelia fixed her with a firm look that Nameless hadn’t seen since she caught him trying to sneak cookies into his bed at the orphanage. She didn’t say anything, because really, she didn’t need to.
The little mouse swallowed, her bluster gone as quickly as it came.
“I wanna.”
The Flutterby nodded.
“I know you do dear. Now, we were headed back to our camp to make dinner if you would like to join us.”
But the mouse’s round ears flattened to her head.
“You aren’t staying in town?”
“No, our friends are outside of town waiting for us, now come along dear.”
They took a couple steps away but the mouse girl remained unmoving.
“I can’t do that.” Her voice was as tiny as she was.
Ophelia put her hands on her hips.
“And why not?”
Mishka shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“I can’t tell you that.”
Erica’s eyes widened and she squatted down slightly to bring herself to Mishka’s height.
“Mishka, where is your heartstone?” She asked slowly.
The girl swallowed, her look turning fearful.
“I-I can’t tell you that either.”
Kar, her interest piqued now, crouched down next to Erica, though she was still much taller than either of them.
“You are far too young to be apart from your heart little one! Did someone take it from you?”
Mishka was looking very uncomfortable.
“I see, well, since you can’t leave, and can’t tell us where your stone is, can you at least tell us who holds it?”
She opened her mouth, about to say something, but a familiar voice cut into their conversation.
“Well now! What is going on over here? Mishka you run along now and stop bothering these nice folk!”
Jared’s voice distracted them from Mishka, but as they turned to him Erica called out.
“Hey wait!”
The little mouse had scampered away, quickly disappearing underneath the nearby porch.
Ophelia rounded on Jared and her ire was plain to see.
“Why did you interfere!? Clearly that child is in need of help!”
Jared put both hands in front of himself defensively.
“Whoah, easy! Look she’s a nice enough kid, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people complain to me about her stealing from them.”
Ophelia’s wings fluttered in agitation.
“And whose fault is that? Who looks after her? Who makes sure she’s eating healthy and that the men- ” She spat out the word like it was rotten in her mouth; “-in this cesspool aren’t taking advantage of her?”
A hint of anger took hold of Jared’s features.
“Look lady, you’re new around here, so I’ll let that slide. But if any one of the men in town was ever stupid enough to mess with her like that… well let’s just say they would find themselves in a dirt house with a thick roof over their head. That I promise you. As for who looks after her, well, the ladies of the Cat-House do! At least as much as she lets them. Don’t be fooled by those big round eyes of hers neither! She would have cleaned you folks out of coins and been back on the street in an hour looking for the next sucker to come along!”
Ophelia’s didn’t look convinced as she crossed her arms over her breasts.
Jared sighed.
“Look, I know she’s troubled and I wish we could do more for her, I really do. But you can’t save everyone.”
Nameless surprised them all by nodding and speaking for the first time.
“I’m sure that you do what you can, and I’m sorry for the trouble.”
He crooked his arm in Ophelia’s and pulled her away from the lawman.
“What?!” All three girls said in unison.
“It’s no trouble really, you seem like decent folk.” Jared said in a conciliatory tone.
“Come on girls, we’ve caused enough grief for the lawkeeper, can’t you see he’s just doing his job? Now all of you be quiet! We’re leaving!”
Erica and Ophelia followed him, the command in his voice clear. Kar did as well though the look on her face spoke of future violence and indeed as they headed back through town she was unable to keep silent.
“What is the meaning of this!?” She seized him by the shoulder; “I thought I knew your heart but-”
“But clearly there is something very wrong in this town and Mishka is part of it. And we’re not going to figure it out from inside a jail cell.” He reasoned.
“W-Wait, what?” Erica stammered.
Ophelia tilted her head to one side.
“You were lying just now…”
He nodded.
“I think we should go talk to that nice girl at the Cat-House.”