Chapter 28: More work



"It is so good to see you two," Aran Linvail said, and Entreri noticed his bitter tone. "I thought that I would have to send someone to break your door."



"Maybe we should come back later," Shandara said calmly. "I didn't get out of bed to listen to your insults, so I might as well return there. We might as well return," she said, taking hold of Entreri's arm.



"I don't think that would be very wise," Aran said, and his voice sounded threatening. Shandara sighed and then looked at Entreri. "Wait outside. There are some things I need to discuss with Master Linvail." Entreri looked into her eyes and then nodded, ignoring the angry look at Aran's face. He left the room before the man could say anything and closed the door, but then he leaned on it to hear what Shandara was saying to Aran.



"How dare you?" Shandara hissed, leaning over the table to look into Aran's eyes. "You are acting like a jealous teenager, and insulting one of your best assassins. And also one of your best whores."



"You're my friend," Aran sighed. "The last week has been peaceful, but I worry about your safety all the time."



"Isn't that why you ordered Entreri to guard me?" Shandara asked in a sweet voice that actually lacked all the sweetness.



"I'm worried about what he will do to you," Aran said. "Or that he will be so attracted by your charms that he can't protect you. Both of those options scare me. I don't want anything to happen to you. The others don't have these kinds of problems with their bodyguards," the Shadowmaster sighed.



"Well, I can't imagine Mirjami sleeping with her bodyguard, so maybe you're right," Shandara said smiling. "I'm happy that you care, and I love you, but I can take care of myself while I'm in the guild. And outside, Entreri will protect me. I trust him."



"And?" Aran said and Shandara shook her head. "Nothing else. I trust him, I like him and I know he won't let anything happen to me. And I'm also pretty sure that he's standing behind the door listening to us." Shandara raised her voice and Entreri stepped away from the door, feeling rather stupid.



"Was this all, or did you actually want us to do something?" Shandara asked from the grinning Shadowmaster.



"Lord Kheran," he started and Shandara sighed. "He wants to see you again. Well, he send a letter telling that he wants to see Entreri, but your presence is also needed."



"I'll tell him," Shandara said. "He's still a bit nervous about this whole whore thing and I need to talk to him. When are we to meet Kheran?"



"Not until next week," Aran said. "But I thought I should warn you right away."



"Thank you," Shandara grinned. "If you had slept with him, you'd know that even tolerating his presence is only possible with lots of self-control. A disgusting man. Why should we meet him again?"



"He hasn't noticed that his belongings are gone. Stupid man! And it might be useful to get some more information."



"I'll do it," Shandara said. "And then we can talk about my fee at some point."



"Somehow I knew we'd come to that," Aran sighed. "We'll talk. But you should go now, I bet that Entreri is waiting."



"Thank you again," Shandara said. "You're the best friend a girl could hope for."



*********************************************



Chalmira was humming a song that was stuck to her head. She had been walking around the city the previous day and had stopped to listen to a young human girl who had been performing in Waukeen's Promenade. The girl had blond hair and she couldn't have been much older than twenty. Chalmira had stopped out of sheer curiosity, which had soon changed into pity and loathing.



The lyrics of the song the girl was sinning hadn't made any sense; their main purpose had been to rhyme badly and to give the male listeners a very good idea of what the girl wanted to do with them. The bad lyrics hadn't spoiled the song much, because the girl couldn't sing. Her performance was mostly squeaking and hopping around wearing practically no clothes. The tune that two older men had been playing the tune, which had been simple and repetitive, and although Chalmira had hated it, it had stuck into her mind.



Now that she was trying to compose her own song, the stupid tune kept coming back to her mind. Her own tune would be inspirational and beautiful, she knew it, but she couldn't concentrate on it, couldn't get te hold of it although it was in her mind.



"Nice melody," Elenwyd said and Chalmira wanted to scream out loud. Instead she glared at her brother, who didn't seem to mind and simply sat down on her bed. He was carrying a pile of papers tied together with a string, and he tossed it to Chalmira. "Read this."



"What is it?" Chalmira asked, not even looking at the papers. "I'm busy at the moment."



"Yes, humming a song performed by the naked wonder girl," Elenwyd grinned. "I was starting to worry that dogs would begin to howl while she sang. But they didn't. Maybe they all got really scared and died."



"I'm trying to compose my own song," Chalmira said, trying to calm down although she wanted to scream out loud.



"Well, you don't seem to be doing it right now, so you could read my song. There are the lyrics and the music."



"When did you write this?" Chalmira asked, starting to leaf through the papers. There were quite a lot of them and they also seemed rather interesting.



"Last night," Elenwyd said calmly. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to write down this thing that I have been planning for some time now."



"You wrote all of this last night?" Chalmira asked, hating her brother even more. "You're lying."



"I wrote the music some time ago," Elenwyd admitted. "But I wrote all the lyrics last night. Honestly."



"I hate you," Chalmira muttered. "I can't write anything and you just think that 'Hey, I don't have anything to do, let's write a song'! It's not fair."



"It'll be fine soon," Elenwyd said, and although Chalmira knew that he was right, it didn't make her feel any better. "Stop writing," Elenwyd continued, gathering all the papers in front of Chalmira. "Take a nap, relax, read a book. Read my song," he added smirking. "Don't think about writing so much and it'll be a lot easier. I promise."



"Maybe I'll do that," Chalmira said smiling. "And if I know you, you'll be running to Waukeen's Promenade to see whether the wonder girl is there."



"You know me too well," Elenwyd grinned. "That girl couldn't sing to save her life, but with that figure, I can forgive that. And hopefully I can keep her quiet for the most time."



"You're really disgusting, I hope you know that," Chalmira said sharply. Her brother flashed her a charming smile and left the room. Chalmira started to read through his song, which was quite good. She curled on her bed and started to plan how it could be performed after they had left the guild.



*********************************************



Hark: There might be a break in my writing. I realized that I have to concentrate more on my studies if I want to pass all the exams in December. It's not such a long time when you think about it! And I'll probably have three exams in one day... But I'll plan the stories and write them whenever I get bored with studying (pretty often, probably). If I survive this autumn semester, spring should be easier. I certainly hope so.

Lady Shandara