Night had fallen by the time they rolled into the next town. Samuel had spent most of the trip trying to not let the swaying of the cart rock him to sleep, as it had done his two companions. Keeping himself distracted, he had admired the beautiful sunset that evening as they left the more forested region of the kingdom and ventured further towards rocky mountains and deep valleys. It had only been dark for 15 minutes before the dull lights of the next town bobbed on the horizon.
After stopping the horse outside a small stable and convincing the young stablehand to let them keep the horse there for the night, in exchange for a fox pelt from the back of the cart, Sam woke his two friends.
Touya yawned loudly and stretched out his long limbs leaving Calliope's head to slip from his shoulder. She jerked awake with a loud snort and cast her startled eyes around at their new surroundings.
Touya peered his squinting eyes into the gloom.
"Huh. I recognise this place." He grunted, cracking another obnoxiously loud yawn.
"You've been here before?" Samuel pressed, helping the young stablehand unfasten the harness to lead the horse away for the night. He bid him his thanks as the young boy retreated with the pelt under his arm.
"Yeah! I think so." Touya mused, casting his gaze up and down the lantern-lit streets.
Sam held out a hand to help the Princess down from the cart. She took it with a smile, her other hand hoisting up her skirts as she hopped off of her seat. Her fingers remained laced with his as she joined Touya's side.
"You wouldn't happen to know anyone we could stay with, do you?" She asked, following his gaze down a particularly long stretch of cobbles. This town was far larger than the last place they'd stayed at.
The merchant pulled a sly smile, his tongue running over his teeth as the ghost of an idea past behind his eyes. "Eh, I think I might..." He crooned, casting a devilish look down his nose at them. "But you're not going to like it."
The princess and the jester exchanged apprehensive glances.
"C'mon. Let's take a look." Touya chirped with a twitch of his head down the long street. "It's been well over a year since I last visited."
The trio walked through the quiet town, Touya leading the way while Callie and Sam followed hand in hand. Even in the gloom, Sam could tell this place was pristine and picturesque. The gentle sound of a river could be heard as it passed beneath stone bridges and through cobbled streets. Overhead, colourful banners danced in the breeze while the soft glow of lanterns illuminated the pretty, shop windows and quaint store fronts.
Unlike the last place they'd ventured into, this town had a pleasant smell and a tranquil aura. Even as they passed by a tavern, only the gentle hum of respectable conversations could be heard.
No smell of stale piss nor rowdy, drunken bellowing here.
So what on earth had made Touya want to even come to this place?
The answer soon became clear as they turned a corner and ventured up a narrow path.
When it opened up on the other side, the tall facade of a lone building greeted them. Elegantly decorated with carved depictions of nymphs and mermaids, the structure reminded the jester of some of the exquisite cakes he had witnessed at court.
Though he was sure the princess had never laid eyes on such an establishment before, he could tell from her narrowed eyes and pursed lips that she had begun to suspect. Sighing, he turned his eyes to the smiling merchant, one brow cocked and his mouth frowning.
"Seriously, Touya?"
The sneaky charlatan could only chuckle as, just then, the doors swung open and out staggered a red-faced man. Positively inebriated and positively chipper, he stumbled past them, humming to himself as the strong smell of perfume followed him down the steps. He passed them to a chorus of syrupy goodbyes that floated out from the double doors.
Music and laughter joined the quiet street as the women who had waved him goodbye turned and spotted the trio standing at the bottom of the steps. They greeted them with biting lips and fluttering lashes as they filled the doorway, which was lit up like a shining alter in the gloom.
"Looking for a warm place to lay your heads?" One of the women purred, lifting her skirts to reveal a garter-clad thigh that she presented before her with a wink.
Sam groaned beneath the hand that pinched the bridge of his nose. "I should have known..."
Beside him, Calliope could only stare.
"Indeed we are, ladies!" Touya called jovially, bending his lanky frame into a half-hearted bow. "Tell me, is Nemuri still the Madame of this fine establishment?"
"Mmhm!" The women chorused.
Of course Touya would be on first name terms with the owner of a brothel.
Sam slowly shook his head. It was just like he said back at the edge of the forest; if there's was one thing his shady merchant friend could seek out without a map, it was a brothel. Even in a quiet, well-to-do town such as this.
Touya went on. "Could you lovely ladies tell her Touya would like to see her?"
At his request, a long-legged redhead sauntered off while two, blondes beckoned them inside.
"Let's get you three warmed up, shall we?" One cooed with a sultry smile and a swing of her hips.
Sam couldn't help but wondered how long their seductive gazes and gentle caresses would last once they found out they didn't have a single penny between them.
The women lead the trio to a lavish room full of crushed velvet furnishings and shimmering satin drapes. Exotic plants hung from the walls and chandeliered ceilings while colourful birds sang from golden cages. The whole place smelt like spiced wine.
"Make yourselves comfortable," one of the women smiled as she did so in Touya's lap. She ran her hands running through his dark hair and across his light scars as Sam and Calliope perched awkwardly on the sofa opposite.
The merchant's tongue curled around the grapes the blonde fed him while his hands curled around her corseted waist. He looked completely at ease as he turned his head from one set of perfectly painted lips to another.
Sam, on the other hand, had lost his usual slouch. His shoulders had gone rigid beneath the wandering hands of a set of twin brunettes. They were trying to coax small talk from him, which he replied to with a mumbling voice and dipped eyes. The girls didn't take his subtle hints as he tried to roll his shoulders out from their caresses and shift his legs away from theirs. Rather, his reluctance only seemed to amuse them more.
Callie's eyes were on them the whole time. Although, as he chanced a fleeting look her way, she didn't seem to look at all angry or uneasy. Instead, she seemed somewhat transfixed on the strange world Touya had exposed her to. As if mesmerised, her eyes roamed over the lavish decor and glamorous outfits. The way the women possessed the ability to turn even the most eloquent of men to bumbling babies had some what captivated her. Her curiosity towards the whole scenario actually made Samuel feel more embarrassed than if she had been angry. And the jester's face only heated more when a fawn-haired women slipped onto the sofa next to her.
"Oh, aren't you a sweet, little thing..." she chimed, plucking up a lock of her hair and twirling it between her elegant fingers. The gesture urged Calliope to face the woman that had sidled up to her. She had plump, pouty lips and warm eyes that peered at her through doe-like lashes.
She laughed brightly at the expression Calliope cast her. "You don't need to look so shy. We get more girls in here than you'd think." She cooed, stroking the Princess' face with a curled finger. She leaned in closer and Samuel had to avert his eyes from the cleavage that threatened to spill from her laced bustier. "What's your name?" She asked, swinging one of her slender legs over the other to reveal even more skin.
Calliope blinked quickly, lips quivering for an answer.
Like Sam, she clearly didn't know where to look. The woman's hands were at her face the entire time- stroking, gliding, caressing gently as she quietly relished the Princess' discomfort.
Touya's low chuckle sounded from the opposite sofa as he turned to watch the woman begin to draw circles over Callie's thigh. The three woman around him continuing to pepper him with playful kisses as he answered;
"Her name is Callie," he drawled, biting down on another grape that was dangled in front of his smirking lips.
The woman at Callie's side smiled brightly. "Ohhh. Nice to meet you, Callie! I'm Camie!"
The Princess managed a polite greeting in return. And it was only now that the attention was fully on her that she seemed to fall into a bashful state.
And Sam's had only grown tenfold as he tried to keep his eyes from the way Camie danced her fingers over Calliope's body, while ignoring the way the twins either side of him pinched and nipped his ears with their teeth.
Just when he was about ready to leap from the sofa and spend the night in the stables instead, a tall, raven haired woman entered the room dressed in a robe that barely contained her generous chest.
"Touya..." she sang, holding out her hands to the merchant as her bright blue eyes met his.
Swallowing a grape, he rose to his feet to take her fingers into his palms. He pressed his smirking lips against her knuckles. "Nemuri. Long time, no see."
The Madame peered down at him through half-lidded eyes. "You said you wanted to see me?" She mused, taking back her hand to place it against her hip. "I'm afraid if you're looking for that girl you liked so much, she left us a while ago." She gestured for him to take a seat on the sofa once more. "Poor thing was hoping you'd whisk her away and marry her. When you didn't return for all those months, she went to find work on the southern continent."
Touya laughed lightly as he flopped back down between the two blondes. "No, I'm not here for her. I actually wanted to ask you a favour."
Nemuri gave a curious hum. "Go ahead. Our girls can grant you any favour- For the right price."
Yup . This was it- the moment their penniless asses got thrown out of the cathouse.
Sam's eyes swung over to Callie's, but hers were fixed solely on Nemuri.
"Yeah. About that." The merchant drawled, and the two blondes at his sides bristled as frowns formed onto their pretty faces.
Nemuri raised a brow as Touya went on. "Look, we just need a room for the night." He clarified, sitting forwards to rest his elbows on his knees.
"We?" The Madame echoed, titling up her chin.
Touya nodded. "Me and my two friends, here." He added, jutting his own chin in his friends' direction.
Sam felt Nemuri's deep, sapphire eyes glide over them. For a moment, she simply studied them in silence, her quiet observation accompanied only by the crackle of the hearth fire and the chirp of a canary.
Eventually, she spoke up.
"You mean to tell me, between the three of you, you don't have a single piece of gold?" She said, swinging her shapely hips irritably.
The merchant lifted a shoulder. "Eh. You know how it is, Nemuri."
The Madame pulled a bemused frown. "I'm afraid I don't..." She corrected, eyes going to study her jewelled fingers and long, painted nails, "but go on- I do like it when men beg."
The merchant sighed at the Madame's sly smirk. Sam found it strikingly similar to the kind Touya would pull whenever he began to tease. At that point, Samuel suspected that, despite her words, Nemuri had already decided she wasn't going to put them out on the street tonight. He felt his shoulders relax as he and the princess continued to watch the playful exchange.
"C'mon. One night? Free of charge for your best customer?" Touya asked with a boyish grin.
Nemuri scoffed and wagged a finger. "Former best customer." She corrected. "You haven't showed your face in over a year, remember?"
"Ack. Don't be like that. One room, one bed." He retorted, leaning back into the crushed velvet throws and taking an apple from the fruit bowl. He rubbed it against his chest to polish it's vividly red skin.
"For the three of you?" Nemuri quipped, brows raised.
Touya sunk his teeth into the fruit and smirked his juice-coated lips. "Since when has that ever bothered me?" He winked, then snaked his arms around two, slender waists- the blondes either side of him had returned to their flirtatious behaviour at the acceptance the Madame had shown the merchant.
Nemuri chuckled, sauntering over to him to slide a finger across his juicy lips. "Fine." She said, with a twitch of her brows and a lick of her finger. "Just this one time." She tapped the underside of his chin. "And only because we still haven't found anyone to replace Melody with yet."
Touya crunched his apple with his grinning teeth. "Thanks, Nemuri."
The Madame made a sound of acknowledgement as she turned her back to him. "Then again..." she cooed, her eyes dropping to gaze at the princess, "your little friend here would make quite the pretty addition to our little family."
Sam watched with baited breath as Nemuri's careful stare began to study Callie.
"Such lovely skin..." she muttered, her long fingers gliding over Callie's high cheekbones and freckled, olive skin.
Samuel nervously began to wonder whether the Madame saw the late queen's resemblance in the Princess' gulping face.
But as the silence threatened to slip into the realm of discomfort, Touya interjected with a low chuckle. "I'm afraid Callie lacks the appropriate skills set." He insisted with a smirk.
The Princess' blushing face cast an angry glare swiftly in the merchant's direction. It was returned with a wink of an eye and a kiss of the air.
Nemuri laughed softly as she released the lock of Callie's hair she'd been toying with and instead turned her attention to Sam.
"Oh you'd be surprised how popular the inexperienced ones are..." she smiled, taking the jester firmly by the chin. She jerked his head upwards to face her and smirked down at his taut expression.
He felt his face redden under her fingers as they squeezed his cheeks.
Her expression was wolffish as she called- "wouldn't you agree girls?" And the twins at the jester's side giggled softly.
Sam kept quiet, despite wanting to growl at Touya's sniggering.
When Nemuri finally released him, she tapped him on the nose with a bite of her lip.
"Well...I suppose I'll show you three, weary travellers to your room." She sighed, clearly satisfied with her fun for the evening- or so Sam hoped.
*
"Oh, don't look at me like that! I found us a place to stay for the night, didn't I?"
The merchant threw aside his cloak and pulled off his tunic before returning to face Sam's blinking frown.
"What?"
Sam's response was a heavy sigh and a turn of his head.
"Ah! C'mon! This place is even more comfortable than the ones we've paid for." Touya went on. Kicking off his boots, he flopped onto the plush four-poster bed and threw one of the many cushions behind his head.
The merchant was right, too. The room Nemuri had given them for the night was indeed luxurious. Despite not having ever frequented a brothel before, the jester couldn't help but suspect this was not how they all were.
The one back in their hometown certainly wasn't.
He had walked past the rickety, run down building a few times and never would have known the place was a cathouse unless Touya hadn't pointed it out to him one day. His charlatan of a friend had tried to take him there on the night of his birthday, but Sam had insisted a couple of tankards at the local tavern would serve him fine.
The room they had been given was spacious yet warm, befit with its own fireplace and tub. The bed that occupied one side of the room was almost regal with its dark wood and heavy, velvet drapes. Touya resembled a haughty prince laid in its finely embroidered sheets of silks and satin with his chest out and his boots off.
Sam was still lingering quietly by the window, peering out into the night. It was raining outside, the plump droplets bouncing off the glass that separated the cold night air from the fire-warmed bedroom. Behind him, he heard Touya sigh.
"What's wrong, Sam? C'mon, spit it out."
The jester turned away from his frowning reflection with his arms folded. "This is the worst place we could have brought the princess." He grumbled through a sullen expression.
The young woman in question had been whisked away by Nemuri after the Madame had insisted she take a bath in the best of room of the house- her room. Sam had seen the reluctance in her eyes as Callie was taken away down a separate corridor. Though Touya seemed to trust Nemuri wholeheartedly, Sam had his suspicions. He was sure the silently observant Madame suspected more than she let on.
The merchant rolled his eyes skywards as he placed two hands behind his head. "Urgh. You and your prudishness."
Sam clicked his tongue. "It's not that." He tutted, shrugging out of his riding cloak and tossing it over the back of the chaise lounge as he passed it. "Of all people, you should know how much gossip gets spread through these sorts of places." He slumped into the bedside chair and ran a hand through his hair. "And the Madame seemed to recognise Callie. What if she tells someone?"
Touya grunted, turning his head slightly to cast him an unconvinced frown. "Like who? The knights are probably still stuck arguing in the forest. And if not, they're stranded in the dark without horses."
Sam sighed, letting his head fall backwards. "I don't know. Mercenaries or something." He grumbled. How he wished he was as laid-back as Touya was.
The merchant snorted a laugh. "Lighten up, Jester. And stop worrying. I trust Nemuri." He sat up and twisted his long body to fish around beneath the bed. When his dark head re-emerged, he was holding a bottle of wine.
Sam watched him open it as he continued.
"She's a great secret keeper and she's good to her girls. Callie will be fine, relax."
He then poured them both a chalice and thrust one under the jester's nose.
"After all, this is a house of pleasure," he grinned, raising his before taking a sip.
Sam grimaced as he took the drink from him. "Don't say that as you recline in bed half naked." He grumbled.
Touya merely laughed, the contagious sound causing Sam to manage a small smirk.
"Pfft. What? You couldn't afford me, anyway." The merchant jeered, winking an eye.
Sam laughed a grimace. "Whatever, Touya."