Desperate Acts, Page 5

Fall, Sacrificial Offering, Shenanigans, The Steel Gazelle

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  A Deliberation of Morality, The Denver Walker, Fun 'n' Games, The Golden Mushroom, In an Octopus's Garden, Jigsaw Dragon, One-Percenter Vendetta, The Peril Gem, The Price of Folly, Rhapsody in Orange, The Temple of Ubasti, A Typical Friday Night, Youthful Indiscretion

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  Sample Excerpts

  From "The Steel Gazelle"

  "Are you okay, partner?"

  "I...just don't think this is working out."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Okay, we've been here six weeks now--"

  "More like seven."

  Perplexed, she said, "Wha--?"

  "Our first trip here lasted almost a whole week."

  "Oh, yeah. But that was four months ago, Dream time. Okay, all totaled, we've been here seven weeks. What have we done in that time?"

  "Well, we had two big adventures, we've gone with Medb on a couple of her missions, we've toured Ulthar, uhm...oh, Mayv's been training us in weapons fighting...uh..."

  "Exactly. We haven't done much of anything, and what we have done was either dangerous or boring. I mean, yeah, I'll admit it, I thought the idea of being able ta go to some fantasy world every night and have real role-playing adventures was pretty cool. But this has turned out ta be pretty dull, when we're not having the crap scared out of us."

  She picked up a tahler and leaned back. "Not to mention that it's not as lucrative as in Otherworld. This is our first real haul, and even then it's pretty dismal." She threw the coin back onto the pile.

  "Okay, let's think about this for a moment. In the game, did we just sit around and wait for something to happen?"

  "It's not the same thing. Otherworld was set up to offer us challenges."

  "Eileee, stop avoiding the question."

  She sighed from exasperation. "Alright. Well, yeah, sort of; our characters would wander around the town or countryside until someone showed up and offered us a quest."

  "The point is, we actively went looking for adventure. We haven't been doing that here."

  "And where do we go looking?"

  "Ulthar is the city of adventurers. There are all sorts of people there who'd be willing to hire us. All we have to do is advertise."

  Sunny's logic tended to follow its own rules, but she had to admit, she made sense.

  "Meanwhile, we have the money the cats gave us. That should last us a good long while yet."

  She shrugged. "True, but keep in mind, Mayv draws on it ta pay the rent on our house when we're not here."

  "Yeah, that's a problem for sure."

  "You think so?" She spoke in a sarcastic manner. "I swear sometimes you can be such a ditz."

  "Oh, you're just cranky from being bored."

  "Damn right. I especially resent us being treated like little kids left with the neighbors while Mommy goes off ta do neat adult stuff. There isn't even some place private where we can go fool around. I feel like havin' a screaming fit just ta shake things up."

  If Sunny was going to say anything more, she was interrupted when the musicians stopped playing and Tyco jumped up onto the stage. "And now, without further delay, may I present Vichnia, the Steel Gazelle!"

  The musicians began a weird, anti-harmonious piece. Their talent was pretty bad at the best of times, but their newest performance synchronized perfectly with the music, such that they enhanced the bizarre, alien rhythm with their atonal playing. Furthermore, while the song clashed and grated on Eile's ears, it oddly soothed and relaxed her.

  A moment later, a figure appeared out of a backroom behind the bar. It had a statuesque female form and wore a hooded robe that hid every part of her body from sight. She walked across the common room with a slow, languid tread that kept time with the beat and melody of the music. She kept her head bowed so that her face couldn't be seen. Tyco retreated from the stage as she approached. She stepped up onto it and glided to the center, where she did a slow turn in place. When she stopped, she had her back to Eile and Sunny. She stood still for several moments, then began to sway in a serpentine motion. She lifted her head and reached up to pull down the hood. Eile saw steel blue hair wrapped in a bejeweled harness like a filigree helmet. She opened the front of the robe, slipping it off her shoulders and down her back at such a slow pace it barely registered in her perception. All the while she didn't once stop swaying.

  Eile sat mesmerized, though not senseless. She never considered herself attracted to other girls, but she was so fascinated with Vichnia's dance that she couldn't look away. Her skin was the same color as her hair and dusted with tiny sparkles. She wondered in an idle manner what kind of paint she used to decorate her body, and where she and Sunny could get some. Her shoulders, back, and upper arms were knotted with corded muscles, not to the extent of a body builder, but enough that Eile got the impression of tightly controlled strength. She wondered if Vichnia could take Medb in a wrestling match.

  When the robe reached the buttocks, she was stunned out of her revere when she realized she couldn't see a costume. It slipped off one arm and swept to the right, to hang off the other as it trailed on the ground. As far as she could see, Vichnia wasn't wearing any leggings or shoes either. She raised her right arm and brought it across her chest, draping the robe across her front, and turned around. She stopped when she faced their table, looked down at them, and gave them a wicked smile. It started out slight then gradually grew into a broad expression, but it didn't crack into a grin. Her face was long and narrow, with prominent cheekbones and a domed forehead. Her nose was triangular and thin, but her mouth was broad and her lips full. Her eyes were set wide apart. They looked larger than normal, with a slight oriental cast to them. Their most arresting feature were their cyan-blue irises; they almost seemed to glow.

  She felt paralyzed under that gaze, like a mouse confronting a snake. Then Vichnia whipped her right arm aside and threw the robe into the common room.

  That broke the spell. "Jesus!" She averted her eyes and held up a hand to shield her sight.

  She really is naked, she thought! It was only a momentary glance, but she hadn't seen any kind of clothing covering either bosom or crotch.

  Beside her, Sunny let go with a long, drawn-out sigh: "Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" She looked to the side and saw Sunny staring at Vichnia with eyes and mouth wide like giant O's.

  She kicked her under the table, hard.

  "Oww!" She whipped her head around to glare at her. "Son of a--! What was that for?!"

  Several patrons turned around and hissed at her to be quiet.

  "Stop staring at her, ya bimbo!" she whispered in a harsh tone.

  "Whatever for?" She flashed a look of pure innocence. That elicited more urgent hissing.

  "Jesus, Sunny, get a clue! She's nude!"

  Sunny did a double take between her and Vichnia, before giving her a wide-eyed, drop-mouthed grin. "You're jealous!" The hisses were louder and more strident.

  "I'm not jealous!! God, you can be such a space-case sometimes!"

  Someone came up behind them and laid a hand on their shoulders. She figured it was a bouncer. "I'm afraid yose ladies will hafta leave if yose can't keep still."

  "Move it or lose it, buster!" she growled. He raised his hand, but only a couple of inches.

  Sunny looked up behind them. "It's okay, we'll be good."

  He grunted and moved off.

  Sunny leaned over and whispered in he
r ear, "She's not nude; take a look."

  She really didn't want to, but she knew Sunny wasn't a liar. In a hesitant manner, she dropped her hand and looked up. By that time, Vichnia waved her arms, swung and stamped her feet, and gyrated her body in greater abandon. She winced, but she took a good look. That's when she saw it: a thin, almost indiscernible border around her breasts and hips. She was wearing a costume, one that was so thin and matched her skin color so closely that it appeared invisible. That way, she could appear nude without actually being unclothed.

  "Besides," Sunny added, "it's no worse than what we see in the Waking World, when Mayv takes us to a strip club." She giggled as she sat back in her seat.

  Yeah, that's true, though I'm not all that comfortable watching those women either. Still, no sense causing a scene.

  Sunny moved her chair closer to her. "You know, one of the barmaids told me her father is a powerful wizard in Lelag-Leng."

  "Oh, yeah? Then what's she doin' here?"

  "Rumor has it he wanted her to marry the son of a rival sorcerer, to make the families allies, but she wouldn't do it and ran away. Supposedly, she came here to spite her father. They said she'd continue to dance as long as he insisted upon the marriage."

  She thought back on the other performers who entertained the patrons between their sets. All had been strippers of one form or another. "She does seem right at home."

  Sunny gave her a cross look, but she didn't care. She just settled back in her chair and took a big swallow from her tankard.

  As time went by, she felt herself relax. She