Hark: First there was a writer's block, then our old internet connection was cut and it took time to get the new one, and then I spent a little vacation in a place where there wasn't an internet connection. *sigh* Well, the story finally continues.



Chapter 22: Everyone has to do their job



Jarlaxle had lead Isaldora back to the dancefloor and Entreri was sitting on the sofa, his eyes fixed on Kheran and Shandara. The woman was using all her charms, and Kheran was holding her hand, clearly confessing his undying love.



"Hey, would you like some company?" a blond courtesan asked, stopping in front of Entreri. He looked at her, wondering how old she was. Not twenty, maybe not even fifteen. She had a tired look in her eyes, and Entreri noticed her voice trembling a bit.



"No," he said, and the girl seemed almost relieved. "But can I sit with you for a while?" she asked quietly. "I don't want to... you see..."



"Sit," Entreri said, and the girl flashed him a grateful smile. The assassin wondered why he had agreed, but then he recalled the fearful look in her eyes, and the anger he had felt towards Kheran flared again.



"Thank you," the girl said. "You... When I saw you, I thought that you were different from these others."



"What you mean?" Entreri asked, looking at the girl. She smiled, and he noticed that this yime the smile reached her eyes. "They look at me like I was... Nothing. But you..."



"I'm not sure if I'm so different from them," Entreri said, not wanting to hear anything more. "You can sit here for a while, but that's all."



"Very well, sir," she said, lowering her eyes. Entreri looked at her, wondering what had made her so fearful. The answer was quite clear, he realized. All of her courage had been beaten out of her, she had been made believe that she couldn't survive alone, that it was better for her to sell her body and do what others told her. Entreri glared at Kheran, who had his hand on Shandara's waist, and hoped that he would get a chance to kill the man.



"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said. Entreri turned to look at her and she nodded towards Kheran. "Is she your..."



"She's mine. I own her," Entreri said, emphasizing the word own. "Kheran wanted her, so I gave her to him for this night," Entreri said, but the girl shook her head. "You're not like that," she said. "Maybe you don't see that, but I do."



"Be quiet," Entreri said and the girl nodded, but there was a little smile on her lips. That smile bothered Entreri more than all the other things that night. She seemed to know something about Entreri that he didn't know himself, and he didn't like that.



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"I hate this place," Isaldora said to Jarlaxle when they were dancing. "These people are so..."



"Think of the people you live with before you continue," Jarlaxle laughed. His brown eyes sparkled the same way as the silver ones, and Isaldora had to smile.



"I live with thieves, whores and murderers, but they are still better people than these," she said, planting a little kiss on Jarlaxle's cheek. "After all, we welcomed a drow, didn't we."



"If I recall correctly, you wanted Aran to throw me out," Jarlaxle grinned. "But it seems you have changed your mind, and I'm glad of it."



"Well, you are not like all drows," Isaldora said. "And I'm glad of it," she continued, resting her head on his shoulder. Jarlaxle almost sighed; there was no way for him to leave her without hurting her.



"They're leaving," Isaldora whispered. Jarlaxle turned his head and saw Kheran walk out, his hand on Shandara's waist. He looked at Entreri, who met his gaze and nodded.



"We'll wait for five minutes," Jarlaxle said. "I hope she knows what she's doing."



"She always does," Isaldora said. "There's no need to worry."



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Shandara didn't remembered when she had last time hated her job as much as now. Kheran's breath smelled and his sweaty hands seemed to be all over her body. He escorted, or actually dragged her, to his room and simply threw her on the large four poster bed. Shandara pulled one of the curtains free so that Kheran wouldn't see Entreri sneak to the corner of the room where Kheran kept the box.



"Well, my dear, what do we have here?" Kheran panted, starting to open the laces in front of her dress. Shandara tried to ignore the smell of his breath, but she couldn't ignore his heavy body that felt like it was crushing hers. She wished that Entreri would come soon, because she would have to keep Kheran's attention until then.



"My lord," she whispered, smiling and taking the chance of moving her body to a better position. "Let me make you feel comfortable."



"What did you have in mind?" Kheran laughed. Shandara slipped away from under him and sat next to him. "Lay on your back and I'll show you," she giggled.



"Alright," Kheran said, rolling on his back. Shandara forced a tempting smile on her face and started to remove Kheran's clothes, starting from the yellow shirt. The man was breathing heavily and Shandara could see his erection through his trousers that were the same horrible yellow colour that his shirt. It didn't make her feel any better.



"Hurry up," she thought, but she knew that she would have to go through this anyway. She leaned to kiss the man, feeling disgusted. Then she started to take off his trousers, counting the seconds in her mind.



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Jarlaxle nodded at Entreri, who took the box and amulet from his pocket and muttered the word Erik had told him to. The objects returned to their normal size and Isaldora grinned; she knew that Erik could be trusted when it came to serious matters. She pointed towards Kheran's door, and then to the stairs. She and Jarlaxle would wait there, just in case if some guards would stumble upstairs.



Entreri took of his coat, slipping his jewelled dagger to his belt. He didn't want to wear the uncomfortable coat when doing this, although from what he had heard from Aran's spies, the traps guarding Kheran's box wouldn't be too big a challenge for him. He gave the coat to Jarlaxle and then headed towards Kheran's door.



The door wasn't locked and Entreri opened it silently, stepping in and closing it behind him. There was a large bed almost in the room, and there was a large, yellow shirt laying on the floor next to it.



"My lord, are you feeling better now?" he heard Shandara's voice. The woman got up to her knees and looked quickly at the door. Entreri nodded at her and headed towards the corner where the box was. Kheran couldn't see him because of the curtain Shandara had pulled free, and the only thing he had to do was to keep quiet.



Keeping quiet was not a challenge to Artemis Entreri, but he had to admit that the sounds coming from the bed disturbed him. Kheran was laughing his greasy laughter and breathing heavily, and Shandara was giggling and gasping loudly. He pushed those voices away and concentrated on the traps.



Only one trap was a surprise to him, a combination of magical and mechanical lock that most of thieves would have thought of only as a mechanical lock. It took him almost a minute, but then all the traps were gone. He replaced the real box with the fake one, and then started to put the traps back.



"You know," he heard Shandara gasping, "this amulet is not good. Couldn't you take it off?"



Kheran mumbled something and Entreri sneaked closer, holding the fake amulet ready. He could see Shandara; her dress had been ripped off and she was wearing only a black corset. She reached towards Kheran and then took off the amulet. She pushed the curtain aside, moving so that she was blocking Kheran's view, and held the amulet out to Entreri. The assassin took it, handing the fake one to Shandara. The woman didn't look at him, but one of her fingers caressed the back of Entreri's hand, very quickly. He pulled his hand away, and Shandara dropped the amulet.



"Oh my!" she gasped and pushed the curtain so that Kheran couldn't see the door. "Here, no harm done," she giggled and put the amulet on a small table next to the bed. She didn't hear the door, but she knew that Entreri had already left. She started to remove her corset, while Kheran stared at her, breathing heavily.



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Entreri walked to the stairs and met Isaldora and Jarlaxle, who nodded at him. They headed down the stairs and came to a back door. Entreri had to admit; the plan was good. The door was open, and outside there were two guards, fast asleep.



"Too much to drink," Jarlaxle laughed. "Or at least everyone will think so. Erik makes good potions," he added to Isaldora.



"He is good at many things," the elf said. "Shouldn't we go now?"



"I'll wait for Shandara," Entreri said, and the others turned to look at him. "I think that Therean Asleon wouldn't leave his property here," he said bluntly. He noticed Jarlaxle grinning, but simply gave the box to the drow.



"What about the amulet?" Isaldora asked. The assassin looked at her sharply: "I'll keep it for now. Just in case," he continued, giving Jarlaxle a meaningful look. The drow shook his head, smiling.



"Alright then," Isaldora said, watching them both carefully. "Go and get her cloak, she won't remember it when she comes. At least I wouldn't. Kheran is so..."



"You shouldn't use those kinds of words," Jarlaxle said, taking hold of her hand. "But believe me, if I get the chance, that man will die."



"Painfully," Isaldora added. "For men like him there shouldn't be any other way."



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Entreri had to wait an hour. The girl who had sat with him for a while earlier returned to him, and he let her stay, mostly because he knew that it would seem suspicious if he sat alone. The girl seemed shy, and Entreri could only wonder how she managed in her job. In her line of work shyness was not a good thing.



"Oh, is that your..." the girl left the sentence unfinished. Entreri followed her gaze and saw Shandara walk into the room. Her hair was messy and her other sleeve from her dress was almost torn off. Entreri, who had already fetched Shandara's cloak, hurried to her. She took the cloak and put it on, not saying anything.



"Should we..." Entreri started to say. Shandara nodded. "Let's just go. I'm not such a catch right now. They're staring," she continued and waved a hand vaguely. "I know I look terrible. Thank you for waiting," she continued in a softer voice. "Is the carriage waiting?"



"I believe so. Jarlaxle and Isaldora left more quietly," Entreri answered, taking hold of Shandara's arm when the woman almost fell over. She smiled at him and then took a deep breath, walking out of the room with her head held high.



"Well, from now on Lord Kheran will be your friend," Shandara laughed when they sat in the carriage. "I was starting to worry that he wouldn't let me go at all."



"So it went well?" the assassin asked, realizing that he sounded like an idiot.



"You have the box and amulet," Shandara said. "So it went well."



"I meant..." Entreri said, wondering what it was that he actually meant. Shandara shook her head. "My job was to distract Kheran and get the amulet from him. What followed after that was only one part of it. But to be honest," she sighed, "it was terrible. I mean, look at my dress," she said, moving the cloak from her shoulder. "He simply tore it off. And do you have any idea how hard it is to get a corset and this kind of a dress on alone? When a stupid fat man lays next to you snoring?" she sighed again. "Sorry. He doesn't respect women at all, and those are the worst clients."



Entreri didn't know what to reply, so he simply leaned back, his eyes fixed on Shandara. He could still remember how he had felt when they had bee dancing, but the thought was disturbed by the image of Shandara with Kheran. She didn't seem to notice him staring at her; she was resting her head on the soft pillow, almost asleep. The carriage stopped and Shandara opened her eyes.



"Home sweet home," she muttered. Entreri got out and then helped her out. "I need a hot bath and after that I'm going to go to sleep. And you probably want to get rid of those clothes."



"You chose them,"Entreri pointed out when they headed to one of the numerous entrances of the guild. Shandara laughed, but it sounded tired. "I think you look great. Although green could have been a better colour. And I admit that you always look great in black," she added, looking into his eyes. Entreri stepped closer, his eyes fixed on Shandara's green eyes.



"Oh, you're back!" Mitsu said opening the door in front of them and sticking her head out. "Good to have you back."



"Wonderful timing," Shandara muttered, flashing a charming smile to Entreri. Then she walked past him, leaving him feeling, once again, confused and uncertain of himself.