Sinful Promises
Disclaimer: I own none of the stuff that Merecedes Lackey owns. But I do own Maire and Madame Louisa and the girls and the tavern... and other things that are to come later but would spoil the plotline!
Chapter 5
Maire helped Galen back to his room after that, as he had twisted his ankle and they'd just gotten out of the Healers Hall. He could walk on it, but Maire wanted to feel helpful, after the day he'd just given her. If he hadn't come for her today, then she would have already been through with her second guy and on her way downstairs to pick the third. Suddenly she wanted to stay, but she knew she couldn't.
" Shut the door, please." He asked as he sat down on his bed and started to draw off his boots, setting them down next to his bed. " Augh, I'm gonna be feeling those bruises for a few days, at least."
Maire nodded. " If you hadn't come and gotten me today, then you wouldn't have been late, and you wouldn't have gotten that extra lesson from Alberich."
" Maire, I wanted to come and get you. You've been on my mind ever since I say you." Galen stripped off his shirt and Maire nearly fell over.
She'd seen men with perfect bodies, larger than usual bodies, hairy, smooth, older ones, boys... But they'd never affected her like Galen's suddenly did. He wasn't perfect, his muscles weren't as defined as some of them had been, but a few more months of Alberich's lessons and he would be. He would turn into whipcord, be nothing but dark cinnamon skin stretched over limbs and taut muscles. She shivered to think of those days with him. He already moved like a cat, like he had muscles that normal humans didn't have; in a graceful way that made her want to see him dance.
" Galen, I should be going." She said, inching towards the door.
" Maire, you aren't going anywhere tonight. I told Madame Louisa that you were staying with me tonight." He looked up at her, resting his arms on his knees.
" Galen, I thought I told ye that ye couldn't afford me!" Maire said, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation.
" Madame Louisa didn't make me pay." Galen told her. " She said that you needed a night away, and that I could give it to you."
" Take me back!" Maire turned on him. " Take me back now!"
He shook his head. " I am under orders from Madame Louisa herself to keep you here until tomorrow afternoon." He smiled apologetically. " I thought she had told you."
" She told me nothin' about this!" Maire said angrily. " The audacity of that woman!"
" I'm sorry, Maire, I truly thought she had told you, that was why you agreed to come." Galen stood and moved towards her, but she backed away.
" Galen, if ye make a move on me now, 'tis likely you'll be missing a body part or two." She threatened, and raised her hands.
She didn't quite know how to defend herself, but she'd been in enough back alley fights to know how to get the best of someone in the quickest of ways. Kick them in the groin, male or female, and then knee them in the head. And she didn't want to hurt Galen, not that badly.
" I'm going to take a bath, Maire. You're welcome to join me, if you want." He picked up a robe off his desk. " You mentioned being hungry, earlier. Should I have someone help you find the kitchens so you can get dinner with the rest of everyone?"
She nodded stiffly and Galen called a page to take her to the dinner hall. Maire searched the place for Talia, and supposing that she was taking dinner in her rooms, sat down at an empty table and started consuming the hearty bowl of soup that she had managed to grab from a tray that had passed her.
" Aren't you Galen's woman?" Someone asked, and Maire looked up from her soup to see three people in blue uniforms. Maire stared at them. Neither Galen nor Talia had said anything about a blue sector. She'd been told about the Heralds, the Healers, and the Bards, but nothing about any blue uniformed ones.
" No, I'm not Galen's woman." She said smartly. " I'm Galen's friend."
" I say you're Galen's woman." Said the meaty looking boy in the middle of them, as the other two were another boy, skinny this time, and a mousy looking girl who had a mean look in her brown eyes. " You came here with him, you watched him the whole time he was getting beat around by Weaponsmaster Alberich, and you helped him back to his room. You're his woman." He put his fists on his hips as if he had made a dubious point and he was the smartest man in the world.
" First off, I'm not Galen's woman. I belong to no man. Second of all, I'm betting ye do all those same things for ye're friends as well, ye know, carry them back to their rooms to patch up thier injuries, don't ye?" Maire thought it best if she kept this calm and safe, or at least, as calm as she could think of.
" Patch them up, sure, but I don't go around kissing their foreheads and cheeks while the Healers setting their ankles, and I sure don't let them grope my bum like a common whore." The girl shot, and Maire saw a hint of shrewd intelligence in this one. Too bad it had to be wasted on such a stupid cause.
She'd seen bullies before, and while these were the least levels of a bully, she hated dealing with any of them. This was going to get ugly, she could tell. She could feel it on them, the desire to get her in trouble, any trouble they could. She sqaured her shoulders and made her resolve. She wasn't going to provoke them or throw any punches first, but if they made a move on her, by damned she was going to finish it!
" I didn't let him grope me bum like a common whore." Maire purred, narrowing her grey-green eyes. " I let him grope my bum like a lover."
" Ha!" The boy let out. " So you are his woman."
" Get your ideals straight, boy." She growled. " I'm his love-interest, not his woman. I'll not be bound to any man so to be called anyone's woman."
" So if you aint his woman, then would you be up to being someone else's?" The meaty boy asked, and Maire sneered. She'd seen that coming a mile away.
" This is pointless and ye are crude, stupid, and obviously not worth the money that yer parents are pouring into whatever reason as to why you are here. I am leaving." She picked up her bowl of soup and started to walk away, keeping her eyes half on them, half on where she was going.
She'd used this manuever with would-be pickpockets and muggers. It worked every time, they could never resist the temptation. A smarter group would have walked away and bragged about it to their freinds. It was obvious that this bunch had a few pieces missing in the pies that were their brains. The girl came at her first, and she neatly sidestepped her, placing her bowl of soup on a table of brown suited students. Bardic trainees. Oh gods, she would kill if this was turned into a song.
The small boy went for her next, shoved by the bigger one. He looked like he didn't really want to be involved with this, and so she went easy on him. She whirled around and held her hands out. He was a few inches taller than she was, so her hands caught his shoulders and she swung her foot out and over, tripping him and sending him sprawling on the floor. She made it look like he had taken her down with him, but she leaned in and whispered in his ear.
" Stay out of this." She said feircely, keeping her eyes on the big boy. " T'would be wiser if ye went for help." And then she was up again, brushing off her tunic skirt.
Maire placed her hands on her hips, looking cooly at him. " Is that the best ye can send at me? A half grown girl and a boy not yet out of his mothers lap?"
" You're a bitch." He said, and ran at her.
Maire turned around, grabbed the girl by the shoulders, and turned around to face him again. She tossed the girl into him, so that they both tripped and took each other down. If they rose again, she was taking out her fists. " Disable twice, and if that doesn't stop them, put them down for good." Her father's words rang in her ears, and she nodded stiffly.
But sure enough, they rose again, and the girl had fire in her eyes. The girl had weaponstraining, that she could see in her loose stance, but the boy depended on his bulk to get him by in fights. Maire knew the plan. The girl would rush her, get behind her and hold her arms while the boy beat her about the stomach and head and chest. And probably cop a feel as well. It made her shudder.
But she wasn't the only one with the tricks up her sleeve.
She let the girl rush her, to get behind her. Sure enough she grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her and the boy started moving in. Once he raised his fists, people started calling for help as she had planned. But that didn't stop him, and she had been counting on that as well. He got close enough, and she stooped low to the ground, balancing on her heels. It threw her girl over her head, and into the boy. She stood, quickly, and threw her bowl of soup at the boy, making sure it spun in a nice arc to hit them both squarely in the faces so they were momentarily blinded. Running up to them, she slammed the palms of her hands into their stomachs, knocking the wind out of them and setting them on thier butts.
The girl had managed to wipe the stew off her face, and started to get up, but a deep voice growled from behind Maire. " I wouldn't do that if I were you, Tauura."
Maire looked behind her to see the Bardic trainees had gotten up from their table. Three boys and a girl. She wondered if there was a lack of females here. They stood behind her, and the girl laid a hand on her arm, looking her over to see if she was okay.
" This should be a Healer looking over you, but they finished dinner an hour ago. It's just us, the Blues, and the Heralds." She said, anger springing up in her clear green eyes. " That was smart of you, telling Rhondi to go and get help."
" Thanks." Maire said. " I tried t' do what I could t' stop a confrontation, but they just didn't seem t' want t' leave me be."
" They're always like that. Always picking on us because we've got a calling in life and they have to work for everything." Said the tall boy that had growled at the Blues. " Well, I'd rather work for what they've got instead of plucking lute strings all day until my fingers bleed and my throat is sung raw."
Maire knew he wasn't completely lying, because often things seemed better than what you had, but she knew he was safe in his calling or else he wouldn't have been there at all.
" Heralds are coming." The girl said. " Look a little less strong, would you?"
Maire shook her head. " I'm not hurt at all. There's nothin' to gain here with lying."
" Suit yourself." The girl dropped her arm and just stood there, waiting for the Heralds to get there.
It was Talia, Alberich and one she hadn't seen before. A tall woman with blond hair done in a tail and looking regal in her Whites. She had soft blue eyes, and a set mouth. She made Maire feel small, even smaller than she usually felt.
" Maire, are you alright?" Talia asked as soon as she saw her, looking her over, and then looking at the two Blues who were sitting on the floor with their stew smeared faces.
" Fine enough." Maire bit off. " Seems this boyo here took it into his head that since I hadn't been labeled as Galen's woman, he was goin' t' try and convince me that it would be lovely fun to be his. He got rough when I tried t' leave his company, threw his friend at me a few times, even."
" Is this true?" Alberich asked quietly.
" I didn't mean nothing by it, honestly!" The boy squabbled, but Alberich shut him up with a roar.
" It's true, Herald Alberich." Said the tall boy to her side, and he bowed to the woman as did the rest of his group. " Casi and us, we watched it happen."
" Woulda gotten worse if ye had'nna stood up for me." Maire smiled at Casi, but was ignored.
" Rhondi says that you let him go, told him to go for help?" Asked the blond woman.
" Aye, madame Herald." Maire nodded. " He dinna want to fight, I could see it in his eyes. I gave him the easy way out, told him t' go for help. He dinna have to, but he did. Keep him out of this mess, if you will."
" That I will." She said. " But Maire, if you'll come with us."
Talia took Maire's arm, and suddenly Maire didn't feel so good anymore. She knew what it was. The fight in her was wearing off, leaving her tired and feeling slouchish. She was glad that she had Talia's arm supporting her, or else she'd have started limping, or missed a step and fallen. But she didn't, she managed to stay on her feet until she was out of the hall and halfway to wherever it was that they were going. Alberich had stayed behind a while to clean things up and mete out the proper punishments, promising that he would be joining them later.
" Here, sit." Talia led her into a set of offices of sorts, presenting her to a chair that she gratefully sank into.
There was a steaming pot of tea already on the desk, and Maire hoped that she hadn't interuppted anything. The blond woman poured her a cup and sweetened it with honey, then set it in her shaking hands. " Drink up." She said softly, and Maire nodded, taking a large first gulp to settle her nerves.
" Am I in trouble?" She asked as Talia and the woman sat down. " I mean, I'm just a visitor here, I shouldn't have done what I did."
" You had every right to do what you did." Talia said, sitting forward in her chair, leaning her arms on the desk. " The Blues have a history of teasing and bullying the other students, no matter what sect they are from. The Heralds get it the worst, though, and I apologize for what you had to go through tonight. You kept your head in a great way."
" I shall have to have a talk with thier Headmaster tomorrow, or tonight, if things permit it." The blond woman sighed.
" Yeah, and you might as well tell the Queen that her students are getting out of hand for some of the stupidest reasons on the face of this earth." Maire said, sipping her tea now, as it was strong chamomile.
The blond woman smiled. " You just did, dear."
Maire set her cup down in front of her on the desk. " Your Highness." She inclined her head.
" I'd act all shocked and get on me knees and beg forgiveness for the upheaval, but I just don't have the energy for it right now."
" Please, call me Selenay." She laughed, her blue eyes shining. " And I accept your apology, though really it should be me apologizing."
" Should be Galen, really." Maire said. " He's the one who sent me to the dining hall instead of just asking for some food to be brought to his room."
" Speaking of Galen, where is he?" Talia asked.
" Right here." Alberich said from the doorway, holding Galen's arm.
He was still half dressed from the bath, his hair dripping down his back and front.
" Ye are a very bad paramour, ye know that?" Maire said, watching Alberich pull him around to the front and seat him at the desk. " Ye steal me from me workplace, show me one of the best rides I've ever been on, and then leave me t' fend for myself during yer lesson. Then afterwards, ye tell me I can't go back to work because ye snuck behind my back and got me a night off, then abandon me to a dining hall where I get assualted because some idiot boy thinks I'm 'yer woman'!"
Galen cringed. " I'm sorry, Maire. I really am. I didn't know you'd have this much trouble."
" I told ye that ye were crazy for bringing a whore t' the Collegium." Maire pouted, sitting back in her chair and cradling the tea like it would make everything better if she just drank it.
It seemed no one could answer that, as there was a very pliable silence where Maire finished her tea and then poured herself some more.
" Maire?" Selenay asked into the silence. " If you want to, we can arrange for someone to take you back."
Maire shook her head. " By the time ye did, the night would be half ruined anyway. It'd be best to just put me in a room of my own and leave me there until morning."
" You can room with me and Dirk." Talia offered, and Maire took her up on that.
Not but half a mark later, she was snuggled in the largest bed she'd ever been in, surrounded by two people she'd never shared a bed with.
" Finally, the odds are in my favor." Dirk joked and Maire looked at Talia blankly.
" Sometimes Kris comes in and beds with us, when he's feeling lonely, or cold, or hungry... I never got why he was hungry and sleeping in our room with us." She explained, reaching up and opening the latch on the window to swing the shutters open so a beam of moonlight came into the room.
" Darcie comes and sleeps in me room all the time. 'Tis just a friend thing, something for comfort, I suppose." Maire said, scratching at her nose with her sleeve, one of Talia's borrowed shifts. She had on her black pants, as they often turned out to be her sleeping pants. Her tunic and undershirt lay on the desk, her boots by the door.
" We'll have breakfast in the morning, together?" Dirk asked.
" If we have time for it, then it should be fine." Talia said. " Maire?"
" As long as I don't have to see Galen, I'll be fine with it." Maire snuggled down into the pillows some more, laying on her stomach and clutching the pillow under her head for a firmer place to put it.
No one said anything after that, but they didn't have to anymore, as they were so tired.
A/N: Blessed Saints, that was a long one. I wrote it all in one sitting, starting at two in the morning... I should get some sleep... I really should. But I just found my Soul Aslyum cd and I want to listen to it. And I know you guys wouldn't mind if I cranked out another chapter while I listen to it.