The Adventure of a Typical Friday Night

The Adventure of a Typical Friday Night

  Kevin L. O'Brien

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  Text Copyright 2013 by Kevin L. O'Brien

  Portrait of Eile and Sunny, Team Girl, copyright 2014 by Ariel Roberts

  Character design for Eile and Sunny, Team Girl, copyright by Morghan Peressini

  Cover design and typography copyright 2014 by Kevin L. O'Brien

  Black Regular font distributed under a Shareware license by Altsys Metamorphosis

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  License Notes

  Please consider writing a review for this book on the retailer's website.

  If you see any misspellings or typographical errors, please notify Kevin L. O'Brien using one of his online social networks. Thank you.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents, including those based on the real world, are either products of the imagination of Kevin L. O'Brien or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Because some ebook platforms do not support special characters, certain words may appear misspelled, but this was done deliberately to avoid the problem of the platforms deleting the characters. Also, the LRF platform used by older models of the Sony Reader does not permit the use of links to external URLs, whereas the PDB platform used by Palm reading devices does not support any form of linking whatsoever.

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  Table of Contents

  Preface

  Prologue

  A Typical Friday Night

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other Books by Kevin L. O'Brien

  Connect with Kevin L. O'Brien

  Sample Excerpts

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  Preface

  By the time of this story, Eile and Sunny of Team Girl have become veteran Dreamers. Though the number of nights they have spent Dreaming is just a drop in the ocean compared to most other Dreamers, they have had many more adventures than most others ever have. So famous have they become that people speak of them in the same breath as Kuranes, Randolph Carter, and Medb hErenn, and they have mentored a number of novice Dreamers in their turn, including Sir Differel Van Helsing. Unfortunately, this also makes them a target, by rivals who seek to supplant them, and by those who want to exploit them. And if they cannot do it through bribery, they will use other methods, regardless of the collateral damage.

  This is the first of what will be a series of stories, Tales from the Bloody Boar Tavern. In each, Eile and Sunny have an adventure, sometimes willingly, sometimes not, with persons they meet one night at said public house in the port city of Creachabh. This story describes that first encounter, and as usually happens with them, it wasn't a pleasant evening's diversion.

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  Prologue

  Ravaroc paced slowly in a broad circle within the sumptuous chamber. The servant who had put him there had described it as merely a foyer, but it would have rivaled a royal ballroom, in both size and extravagant decoration. The gold leaf alone would have represented the combined wealth of several city-states. Huge double doors stood at either end, each pair two stories tall, at least, while one long wall, filled with tall, thin windows set between pillars, stood opposite another filled with smaller but still grandiose doors that opened into a series of smaller interior rooms and hallways.

  One of those doors opened suddenly, startling him. In the threshold, looking like a cenotaph, stood Maccabrie, companion to the Lady m'Esad. Though "companion" might have been too pale a word for his status. More like her faithful watchdog, he served as bodyguard, confidant, and lover; and those were only a small portion of his duties. Ravaroc's skin prickled on the back of his neck; he was not someone he would want to confront alone on a dark night.

  The grim figure gestured at him and turned back into the room. He followed him inside, and marveled that such a tall person could walk as silent as drifting fog. Ravaroc had no doubt he could sneak up on a cat if he needed to.

  The room they entered was large enough to seat fifty people for a formal banquet, but it had been furnished as a private study or office. The Lady m'Esad stood behind a baroque desk gazing out a very large oriel window that overlooked an expansive formal garden.

  "Sit down."

  Three ornate chairs sat in a semi-circle in front of the desk, and he selected the one in the middle.

  "You owe a certain capo fifty thousand tahlers."

  It wasn't a question, so he held his tongue.

  "He has given you until noon tomorrow to repay the full amount, or forfeit your life."

  He couldn't deny it because it was true, and again he made no reply.

  "If you would permit me, I will pay your debt, in exchange for your services for a short period of time."

  "I am at your beck and call, My Lady." He did not feel ungrateful, but he suspected he knew just what kind of services she would demand. Still, it would not be the first time he entertained a bored aristocratic woman in her bed as well as her salon.

  She turned around and favored him with a half-grinning leer. "No doubt, but what I require is not what you most likely imagine it to be. I wish to obtain the services of two certain young ladies, but without anyone knowing I am involved."

  He had heard of that, too. He had not yet stooped so low as to procure unwilling victims for another's twisted pleasure, but he had never needed to before that moment, and better them than him. "You have but to speak it and your wish shall become my command, Lady. Do you wish me to kidnap them for you?"

  She sat at the desk. "Nothing quite so dramatic." Then she flashed a wry half-grin. "At least, not yet. No, for the time being I require you to act as a messenger and go-between. First, you will deliver this letter and package to where the ladies are staying; the address and their names are on the front."

  She removed a powder-blue envelope sealed with dark blue wax stamped with a crest and a leather bag as big as a lemon from a side drawer and laid them on the blotter in front of him. The contents of the bag clinked, and he suspected it was filled with gold crowns based on its size.

  "After that, you will accompany me to a tavern, where you will meet the ladies when they arrive, verify their identities, and bring them to me."

  "And then?"

  "That will depend upon how well my negotiations with them proceed. We will just have to wait and see, but if all goes as I hope, your involvement will end there. Otherwise, I may require you to perform other tasks; perhaps even that which you suggested."

  "I see. It would help if I knew who they were, or what they looked like."

  She flashed a wicked smile. "Of course. They go by several aliases, but their real names are --"

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