Reaching their destination

After an hour of travel, Kandra woke up again, the young woman now rested after the improvised roadside-orgy. She and Dareios began to talk, flirting a bit, but mostly getting to know each other. They talked about who he was, where he came from, why he was headed to Tharros and about his blessing. They also talked about her, and Dareios found out that Kandra was born and raised in Tharros proper, her mother a retired prostitute and her father a ranger. She had one brother, and the two had chosen pick up their parents businesses, Kandra becoming a whore and her brother heading north to the forests and mountains

In fact, it had been Kandra’s brother that had arranged their route and made contact with the owner of the taverns’ and inns’ where the three women were to perform, on Jalee’s request.

It was Jalee who had come up with the idea of them travelling around out here, where the competition would be much softer, giving them a chance to earn more gold in a month than what they in a year in Tharros.

That difference in income was caused by the nature of the villages and towns up here. They were mining camps, were independent miners came to spend their, and whom recognized no other power but themselves. And since the amount of the gold that was combined with the greediness of the local traders, inflation had skyrocketed. It had reached the point where the price of a tankard of ale up here was the same as that of six barrels of it down in Tharros.

And while the area was independent, it wasn’t as if the neighbouring lords accepted all that these riches were so close to them, without them getting in on the action, and most villages had been attacked more than once by the lords’ private armies and their hired mercenaries.

Which of course meant that few women ventured out here; save for those who knew how to fight. And women who knew how to fight weren’t always keen on miners and fighters drooling over them.

“So, that means that there’s plenty of gold and few whores. Which means that we’re making a killing out here.” Kandra summed up.
“Sound like a lovely place, this.” Dareios shook his head at what Kandra had told him.
“Yeah, real lovely, isn’t it? And now that we’ve got you with us, we’ll be able to get the ladies to pay for a little too.”
“What do you meant?”
“Well, we figured that there was little point in bringing any boys with us this trip, since the women up here can usually pick and choose between the guys, should they ever get the old itch. But when they get a first glance at you, they’ll probably start loosening their purses. And once they’ve seen you in action, they’ll be throwing gold at you.”

As Kandra said that, the horses had pulled the wagon over the top of a small hill, and the mining-town of Kirk could now be seen as it lay beneath the hill.

Standing up, Dareios took a first glance of the place where he was to make his debut as a whore. It was a small place, he decided, much smaller than his home-city and probably infinitely smaller than Tharros. Most of the houses, of which there were only a few dozen, were small and looked makeshift. Only three buildings stood out as having actually been built by someone with time, competence and manpower. The first one of those was a sturdy logwood building with a palisade running around it, and with armed men and women standing guard by the palisade’s gate. The other one looked to be the town’s tavern; a large two-story building, also built with heavy logs and with a stable wall-to-wall with it.

The third building that looked like a proper house was built like a box, and with a large chimney, out of which grey smoke was rising in great quantities. Over the doors to that building hanged a large sign that read “baths”.

As the wagon rolled into Kirk, and those few townspeople out in the street stood and gawked at its passengers, Jalee steered the wagon towards the tavern.
Halting just outside the tavern’s entrance, Jalee hoped out of the wagon, and after telling the others to wait for her there, she hoped down and entered the establishment.

After a few minutes, Jalee reappeared, smiling calmly at her three friends.
“Alright,” she began, “the tavern-keep’s got no problems with us being for instead of three. Probably because I promised him that he wouldn’t have to pay anything extra for Dareios, which means that Dareios will have to do his best to be a success with the ladies.”
“I’ll do my best.” Dareios said.
“I’m sure you will,” Jalee looked at the blonde man, “Now, we should probably get cleaned up before this evening. The tavern-keep told me that except for the bathhouse, where we will have to pay a hefty sum to get to use its facilities, there’s a few springs just a couple of minutes walk from town. Where do you all want to go?”

“Well,” Kandra said, “seeing how this is going to be Dareios’ big night and all, I think that he should decide.”
“Good idea,” Vanya agreed, grinning at Dareios, “so, where do you want to go and get all wet and naked with us?”