Author's note: To begin with I apologize to anyone who did not agree with my rating. I didn't think anything I described was rude or crude, but upon reading it with a different look I see it is and have upped the rating to PG 13, please tell me if you think this too is too low.
Also, the subject was brought up about Briar not being a prostitute. I did not say he was. I said that men would pay him or others for his body. I figured that often in poverty people will do desperate things. And truly he wouldn't have thought much of it, until he realized what was happening. I took the line from the book "Men who liked play toys always regretted meeting him" (12). To mean men who wanted a young boy for sex. And in a gang atmosphere if the thief lord wished him to go to bed with a man to secure a bribe or the like would have been infallible.
Also. Rosethorn and Lark were together. The editors made them take it out of the book. That isn't out of the question or wrong
And with Sandry, that will be explained as the story went along.
Now on with that Story
I stared at the girl, her knife had made a clean cut across the man's arm, slicing with a precision expected of a butcher marking the nearest hair of an ounce. Not a blind swing. The cut was deep enough to leave a lasting scar, I felt my own deep scars of the plant that had christened me ages ago. But it was not deep enough to require him to see a healer immediately.
That alone would have made one suspect that Porter had Magical training, let alone the definite magic flares I had seen when she had raised her hand. But the thing was. If she knew she had some kind of magic she wouldn't have been waiting here. Not for me, not for anyone. If she wasn't already in a gang, any magical training would have planted her straight into the gang war fare as any ruling gangs in the area would have attempted to persuade her.
She continued up the stairs, where my room was without even noticing or looking back at her handiwork. Not many of the other patrons had paid attention to it either. But surely it would have ruined her in this tavern, or maybe the town.
I watch her as she walks in front of me, her body moves well. I can see that she carries herself with a sort of refined grace that is not much seen in those of the lower classes. I don't know really what separates them from the upper, besides the obvious money. But I am proof enough that with money a street urchin can become more. Perhaps it is unfair to compare the lower class with the rich. The rich the upper class have money that they will never be able to spend and the poor have little choice over what they do. I am proof of that.
Porter looked over at me. "What?" She asked. Her coarse skirts dragged slightly in the dirt of the inn.
"Where did you learn that?"
"Its simple. You take the blade and cut" She said. "Oh" Her eyes are wide open "I won't hurt you, don't worry" She smiled.
"I'm not" I said. There we go. "My rooms right here" I unlock it, uncomfortably aware of the closeness Porter is forcing on me. "Um, there's a bath, food" I have the best room this shit hole of an inn can offer. And with it I've put little into it. No one would think that I've been living out of my trunk, not using the nicely provided worm eaten wardrobe. The most homey touch is the blanket that Sandry sent to me a while back. Its deep emerald green. She sent it with a note "To keep you warm".
"Mister, this is real nice. But I just want to get this done." Porter is direct and to the point.
"You have somewhere better to be?"
"No"
"Then stay the night"
"Sir. I don't think you understand." She moved towards the door. "I ain't normally a whore."
"I don't want a whore."
For the first time she looks uncomfortable. No longer afraid that I was afraid of her she now looks terrified that she'd found someone who will kill her. I know first hand the vulnerability that comes with the discovery that you may be locked in a room with a man who intends to kill you. One time the thief lord was mad at a mate of mine, locked him up with a killer. This boy wasn't a wimp, he was strong. But I saw him when he came out, all bloody and broken. He hadn't put up a fight, he'd let this man nearly kill him. My experiences were less calculated, the thief lord trying to gain favors and me being the bargaining chip.
By the time I was found by Niko I had beaten up one of those men and thrown into the thief gangs. No longer as pretty as I was and too tough. All that gone now, except for a front that could keep me safe.
"Then what do you want?" her eyes only almost betrayed her. She moved her hand to the dagger. I had a feeling I better speak soon otherwise she would loose the initial fear and just strike to my heart with deadly accuracy.
"I'm a mage, I saw you do magic."
The girl laughed "You saw magic?" She grinned "If you were a mage you wouldn't be in the thieves district, You'd be with the posh lords and ladies." She looked at me "Anyway, what would I have magic at?"
"something to so with your dagger" I said, realizing how stupid it sounded.
"Listen, it's a pleasure to meet you, You're insane. I'll leave." She turned away.
"Did you make it?"
"The dagger? No, never been in a forge except to buy"
"Did you train to fight?"
"Look around you, in this town women don't fight. That's why the con works" She said.
"Then how did you learn?"
"My pa taught me"
"Did he teach you how to fight blind?"
"No"
"I bet you could"
I'd changed since leaving Winding Circle. I knew that. I'd changed once into a pompous man boy who tried to forget his past. Now I was falling head first into it. Trying to forge a true identify before I marry Sandry and leave the world I've always known. Now I was more like the hostile youth who Niko had been forced to coerce into bathing.
She glared at me, her body was taught with muscle, and I realized no matter what she was strong. "Who are you to make assumptions about me!" She snapped. "You know what could happen if word got out that I had magic!"
I knew quite well. She would loose her ability to blend in. People on the streets were desperate for magic, some man might buy her for a night and sap her magic dry. And if she didn't have enough, he could kill her hoping for the magic to multiply to save her. It was one of my worries, before Rosethorn promised to take care of me.
"I'll take care of you" I said softly, hoping to calm the girl down.
"Oh is that what this is about? You want a pet so you tell me I have magic to scare me into working for you and sleeping with you!"
"I don't want sex!" I yelled. "Believe me if I did I would go to a brothel! I'm not stupid people in taverns aren't proper whores!"
She raised an eyebrow, her ability to stay calm was that of a fighters. I never was able to master that. I fought rough and I fought hard. But I didn't fight calm.
"Well" She said. "Then what do you want"
"Can I see your dagger?" I asked "I want to see if the magic is on it."
She snorted "it's a plain old dagger. I bought it cheep, sharpened it." Her eyes are defensive, and I notice her stance change.
"I just want to test it for magic" My voice is sounding desperate now, I can feel it.
"Listen" She starts "I don't know what your pleasure is!" She snapped "But this is weird. I'm leaving" Porter says sharply.
"Listen!" I sigh, I've never been very good with being tactful, Sandry has reminded me of that enough. "Its my responsibility to train you until I find you a better skilled teacher"
"And what does this training mean exactly!"
"Meditation! I don't know! I don't even know what your power is" He sighed "If you give me the dagger then I'll be able to see if its you, or the dagger."
Reluctantly she hands over the dagger, making me see the pain it causes her. I remember the feeling of handing over my knives to Niko. My former thieving fingers hold the blade delicately, she's right it's a cheap blade, the metal is worn, she probably paid too much for it in the first place. The only magic is along the blades, I run my finger over the blade gently. I put no pressure on it, but I can feel the blade cut through the pad of my thumb.
"Well?" She asks. I balance the blade on my finger, its hardly perfect.
"Its junk metal."
"It works just fine for me" She snaps, taking the blade back, her fingers sparkle slightly with magic as she grips the handle, the metal strengthens in her grip.
"Porter" I say soflty "Its you"
Her gray eyes look me over. I remember Evy's reaction, disbelief. I didn't know how to teach her either but I had worked hard until we'd found a stone mage who worked with her. Porter just looked angry.
"Then what is my magic?" She asks her body closing up.
"I have no idea" The worst part of being a mage is that, knowing something but not enough of it.
Porter snaps her body away from me. "Then why bother to tell me?" She moves away towards the door.
"Because you're my responsibility now" I say.
"Just pay me" She says looking at me "I don't want to be pulled into your game."
Now I have to prove it to her, I grasp blindly for how Rosethorn convinced me, for how I convinced Evy. But in order to do that I would have to find out what her magic was.
"Let me scry for it" I say, "I'll pay you for the time, feel free to take a bath, or eat."
She takes a piece of fruit from the basket I have available. As I search out something that will work with my magic that will also allow me to see the future she eats it lazily, watching me with a trained fighters eye.
I take a hold of a mixture made the help lawyers and the like see clearly through spells and pour it onto a silver tray. I add some truth mixture and concentrate on the magic of this girl. The knife I held earlier hovers in the mixture, as does a strange variety of other weapons.
I am thoroughly confused.
More Author's notes: Sorry that I have to do more! But I got a lot of reviews for this (even if some were people telling me it was implausible yadda yadda) (But yay! Me for making a controversy!) But I like this story. I have read will of the Empress. And yes I am going to rewrite the first chapter a little. I'm going to assume that Briar figured some things out before the girls. I also apologize for how long this took to get up. I am currently without the net and am experimenting if my Ipod really will act like a flash drive. Hopefully this will work. Keep leaving the good reviews! Tell me what sucks especially!