Chapter 30: Past lives (part one)
"I had a very nice life. I had a loving family, a home and everything you could hope for," Shandara begun. She was resting her head on Entreri's lap and staring at the opposite wall. The assassin was caressing her hair, his delicate fingers playing with the dark locks. "Then what happened?" he asked.
"Then my parents died," Shandara said sighing. "We lived in a little village, and one day a band of orcs just came and destroyed the whole place. There weren't many survivors, and all my relatives were killed, except my little sister Anya. I was fifteen then, she was only twelve. We hid in the forest and after the orcs left we gathered all the things that were left and useful for us. Trademeet was the nearest town, so we headed there. We sold most of the things we had carried with us, and a trader going to Athkatla promised to take us there with him. He was a kind man who had a lot of children, so he felt a bit sorry for us. Not sorry enough to take care of us, but he didn't charge us for the ride."
"We arrived in Athkatla in a warm summer day and the trader, you know, I've completely forgotten his name, left us in Waukeen's Promenade. He gave us some food and told us to stay out of trouble. Anya was scared and I tried to be brave, although that felt like an impossible task at the time. We went to the temple of Ilmater as the trader had told us to and the priestess there told us that there was a place in the Slums where we could stay. On our way to there two men started following us and when we started to run, they did too."
"There were lots of people in the streets that day and I think that is the only reason we got away. I don't know what they wanted from us, and I'm glad I never found out. We ended up near the Graveyard District, but with the help of few elderly women we managed to get to the Slums. It was so different from everything we had ever seen. A lot of houses in a small area, filthy streets, drunkards and whores. The followers of Ilmater had built an orphanage near Copper Coronet and so we spent our first night in Athkatla in a large room with about twenty other children. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a boy who was trying to steal my sister's necklace. I cried and he ran away. After that we took turns in sleeping."
"A year went by. I turned sixteen and Anya thirteen. I helped to take care of the younger children and did all sorts of work around the orphanage and in the temples in Slums and Waukeen's promenade. I wasn't very religious, but I was hard-working, so they forgave me my lack of faith. But then we were informed that the church no longer had the money to keep the orphanage. Only the poorest people of Athkatla were interested in helping the poorest, which meant that they gave money to the church and got it back a bit later. Rich and middle-class tend to go for the more fashionable gods," Shandara said in a sarcastic tone.
"So we were once again without a place to go. I was offered a job as a maid in a house in a good part of the city, but they didn't let Anya to coem and live with me. They said that they didn't need a useless girl around. So I didn't go."
"We lived in the streets and slept in whatever place we could find. Then Anya got sick. She had high fever and headache all the time. We found a doctor who took her in and our money was enough to pay for the treatment and a bed to sleep in for three days. Her condition didn't improve, so I said I would get more money and went out into the streets. There was only one way to make money I could think of, some girls younger than me had talked about it, and I was a good-looking girl. That's simply the fact," Shandara said with a sad smile on her lips. "I inherited my looks from my mother. And even today she is the most beautiful person I have ever seen."
"So I became a whore. The first customer even paid me extra when he noticed that I was, or had been, a virgin. The next had some special wishes. The third wanted me simply to strip. In one night I got enough money to pay for two days of Anya's treatment. As the days went past Anya's health didn't improve but I got better and better. It was strange," she said, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye. "When my sister died, I gave all my money so that the doctor could arrange a proper funeral for her and left. I went back to the streets to earn more. I didn't go to the funeral, I haven't ever visited her grave. I lost her and I..." she sat up, looking into Entreri's eyes. "I can't explain it. I forgot my sorrow by working. I had already earned some reputation. And then... I don't think you'd be interested in details. When I was nineteen, I met Aran and got a job here. Nineteen... It's over almost eight years ago. I'll turn twenty-seven next month," Shandara sighed. "Soon I will be too old for this job."
"Twenty-seven isn't that old," Entreri said and to his surprise Shandara grinned. "It is if you're a whore. There are always dozens of younger women waiting to get my job. On speaking of age, how old are you? If you're not going to tell me your whole life story, at least tell me something," Shandara said.
"I... I'm thirty-eight. I think," Entreri said, and continued before Shandara could say anything: "I didn't really count my birthdays as a child. Birthdays weren't... those happy occasions people think them to be."
"Tell me," Shandara said, her green eyes looking straight into Entreri's. She saw the pain, saw the hidden memories, but she couldn't read any more of them. The assassin knew how to hide his thoughts and feelings, and she saw them only as short glimpses now and then. But she realized that it wasn't enough for her. She wanted to get to know Entreri better, to understand the assassin better. She cared for the man, she could admit to herself now, and to see him suffer made her heart ache as well.
"You don't want to hear about my life," Entreri said. "And I don't want to talk about it."
"Artemis," Shandara whispered, taking hold of his hand. "Please."
"You... You need to get ready to meet Kheran," Entreri said, pushing Shandara's hand away and getting up. "I understand that you need to do it, so I'm not going to stop you. I can't stop you. But I can still decide what I tell about myself to other people. My life is just that, my life. It's nothing you should concern yourself with."
"So innocent little 'please' doesn't do the trick?" Shandara grinned. "Fine. But you don't need to go. Aran didn't say when I have to see Kheran, but I'm sure it won't be right away. And the only way I can prepare for that is to turn my brain off. And I don't wish to do that yet."
"What is it that you wish to do then?" Entreri asked, glad that Shandara hadn't pushed the issue further. And now the smile on her face told him clearly what it was that she wanted to do. Entreri pushed back the memories that her questions had brought into his mind, he was used to doing that, and drew her into his arms. That helped him to forget even better.
*********************************************
Hark: Giovanna, a very good point. Kheran's picture would be in dictionaries in Faerun next to the word 'disgusting'. I'll have to see what happens. (I'm not in control of the story anymore. It sort of writes itself now. I just hit the letter thingies on the keyboard and hope to get the words right.)
