When the Watch finally released Hellrien from their questioning it was already late at night – an hour to midnight. They had known the men – local troublemakers who had seen the inside of the Bree-Town Jail plenty of times before for petty thefts and drunken brawls. The blonde man, apparently the leader of their group, had managed to get himself wanted for a manslaughter about three months ago, at which point all three had disappeared from the street scene of Bree. There had been an increase on reported incidents of brigandage outside of Bree shortly after. It appeared that the trio had attempted to gather enough coin to relocate and start over somewhere else. That was all Hellrien learned from the Bree Watch before they finally concluded that she had acted in self-defense and in defense of her client’s property. And with that the case was closed.
She descended the stairs of the Bree-Town Jail and hoisted her saddle and traveling bags on her left shoulder. A silhouette of a man in black appeared eerily from the shadows.
The man stopped and looked around. In the darkness Hellrien couldn’t see what he was looking for, but instinctively she slowed down her pace and concentrated on the weight of her swords pressing comfortably against her hips.
”Well, there you are”, said the man.
”I’ve missed you so much, Perry!”
The woman dashed past Hellrien and raised up on her toes to kiss the man in black. Hand in hand they walked into the shadows and disappeared.
Hellrien shrugged and thought that she had become damned nervous lately. Damp fog palled and moistened her face. She continued walking through the streets and squares towards the Prancing Pony.
She got herself a room, washed up, changed her dirty and sweaty traveling clothes into a light dress and took a sip of brandy from a bottle she had gotten from Colewulf. She could hear the droning of sounds coming through the open window. Wagons and light carts clattered on the pavement. Nightlife of Bree was in full swing. At this time there were considerably more taverns, shops and recreational activities in Bree than anywhere else in the whole Eriador. It was a most suitable business center for all the merchants, traders and farmers of Bree-land. Enormous amounts of money exchanged hands every year, as unending rows of carts and wagons rolled there from Combe, Staddle, Buckland and Stock. Half of the recreational life was based on travelers and adventurers who had to pass through Bree to get wherever they were going, pockets full of riches that dwindled in taverns, gambling dens and brothels. The other half was aimed at locals or those who stayed a bit longer with a lot of coin in their pockets but very little to spend it on. The Prancing Pony was the most renown tavern throughout Middle-earth, and Hellrien felt her nerves tingling fantasizing about a huge, refreshing mug full of Barliman’s Best.
But first she threw herself on the bed and took a nap for an hour. When she woke up she snatched another mouthful of brandy and tied a dagger around her thigh. She was a regular customer and could have walked in the common room fully armed, but when she was off-duty and out partying she preferred to dress like any other trollop in Bree. She smoothed the dress against her wide hips, blew out the candle and locked the door behind her.
Suddenly she realized how hungry she was. In fact she hadn’t eaten properly since breakfast. She ordered a bloody steak from Barli and a pint of ale to wash it down with. With appreciative grunt Barliman shoved her coins in his own pockets.
The main door slammed incessantly as men and women kept coming and going, so Hellrien didn’t notice Colewulf before he was standing right next to her. He ordered something that sounded like ’wiskey’, and Hellrien remembered the drink The Man, Nogfrid from The Network, had once offered her. ’Dalish wiskey’, he had called it. It had tasted somewhat similar to dwarven brandy but had a grainier flavor to it.
”Hello Hellrien”, Colewulf smiled warmly, taking a sip from his drink. ”Never thought I’d see ye in a dress to be honest!”
”Off duty, sir”, Hellrien explained. ”There’s no need for me to walk around with all that steel and sweaty clothes. Not here.”
”Too true!” Colewulf took a sip and watched her for a moment. ”Heard about your ordeal during the trip…”
”You did, huh? I guess there has been time for the word to travel.”
Colewulf shrugged. ”I have voices whispering in my ear, aye…” He leaned his elbow on the counter. ”Also heard ye handled yerself well.”
”Just another day in the office”, Hellrien quipped. Barliman pushed a pint of ale over the counter and told her the steak would take a moment to prepare.
”Don’t fry it too well, Barli. I’m hungry and I like mine rare!” Hellrien turned to Cole: ”I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
”Ah, I see”, Cole said, taking a sip from his drink. ”Would ye like to have it delivered to a room? Got some more questions, if ye don’t mind?”
”Well, sure. I guess it’s a bit crowded to be talking about these matters here. Could we have any booze there by any chance?”
”Of course!” Cole grinned. ”What would ye like?”
”No matter. Something strong. I need a stiff drink or twenty.”
”I know just the thing. Why don’t ye find us an empty room and I’ll be along shortly?”
”I have a room here. We can use that.”
Colewulf smiled, turning to Barliman. ”Need a bottle of my cider and a bottle of that wiskey I brought ye last week.”
The burly barkeep hunched down to pick up the bottles from under the counter and handed them over. Colewulf followed Hellrien out of the common room. She turned the corner a couple of times, leading Cole through a longer corridor, covered by soft carpet. Then up the stairs to the second floor where she used her key to open a heavy oak door and nodded to Cole.
”Make yourself comfortable, sir.”
Colewulf stepped inside and laid the bottles on the table, readying the mugs with a smile. ”Wulf-cider or the strongest wiskey I’ve had to date?”
”Let’s begin with a wiskey appetizer.”
Cole popped the stopper from the bottle and poured in two mugs. He handed one to Hellrien and raised his own. ”To Hellrien”, he toasted with a wide smile. ”May she keep saving my arse and goods!”
”Not a single product got a scratch on”, Hellrien assured, chinking her mug against Cole’s. She slugged down her strong drink in one go and lit her pipe.
”Well, sir. What do you want to know?”
Colewulf tilted his head, leaning against the table a little. ”A little more information about the bandits who attacked you. Anything seem suspicious to ye?”
Hellrien rubbed the side of her nose. ”Never seen them before in my life, but apparently the Watch knew who they were. Local thieves and troublemakers. Their leader was wanted for manslaughter.”
Cole frowned, looking like he was pondering about something. ”And where and when they struck?”
”You know that stretch of old dilapidated wall south of the road? Near Barrow-Downs? A piece of old ruin or something. I have no idea what it once was, but now it provides a good cover for brigands to lurk behind.”
”That’s interesting”, Cole said, shaking his head. ”Not where the idiots usually attack my caravans… did ye catch the leader’s name?”
”I overheard it in the jail, but I’m not good with names… Range or Randy or something like that. What’s their usual place then?”
”Oh, they usually try to attack just past the bridge, where the hills are higher on both sides of the road. Hmm… I once had dealings with a man called Roldey… could that be it?”
”Roldey? Could be… the Watch would know for certain. What did this Roldey look like?” Hellrien moved over to the table to refresh her drink.
”Aye”, Cole nodded distractedly, sipping his drink. ”He was a younger kid, almost… blonde?”
”Yeah, he was blonde all right, and had a beard, though he could have grown that anytime I suppose. Tall, and kind of skinny.”
”Sounds like the guy…”
”What business you had with him?”
”Hmm”, Cole frowned. ”Wouldn’t have thought him to be the sword-wielding type. We just did some business with a few bits and bobs. Did ye notice anything about him in particular?”
”Well, he had a huge two-handed sword, but he wasn’t very experienced with it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have tried to use it in a crammed, closed wagon.”
”This stinks of something more”, Cole mused, walking to stand by the fireplace. ”When I met Roldey he seemed jittery… definitely not the smartest… or the type to lead…”
”Well, they were all bunch of amateurs”, Hellrien said, sipping her whiskey. ”If they knew what they were doing, there wouldn’t have been anything I could do to prevent the robbery. They took us by surprise, they had the upper hand.”
”That doesn’t make sense either. Why hire amateurs if the plan was solid?”
”There is one more thing…” Hellrien hesitated, rubbing her chin. She wasn’t sure if she should take this matter up at all, but she had to admit it had been bothering her. Cole sensed her hesitation, looked at her and quirked his brow.
”Oh?”
”Your driver. How well do you know him? Do you trust him?”
”My driver?” Cole repeated, narrowing his eyes. ”I know him very well… but my usual driver was ill this time and I had to hire a substitute…”
”Could be nothing… but he was nowhere around when the brigands ambushed us. That’s why they could take us by surprise like that. Apparently he had been conveniently relieving himself in the bushes. Very convenient… but it strikes me as suspicious too.”
Suddenly Colewulf slammed his fist into the mantle with a loud crack, turned and walked back to the table to refill his mug. ”I’ll have a chat with him.”
”If not anything else, it was reckless”, Hellrien explained. ”The rest of us were all inside the cart eating, and we thought the driver would warn us if he saw something suspicious. But he had gone to relieve himself in the bushes, without telling anyone.”
She emptied her own glass and walked by the table next to Cole. ”Fill mine up too, would you?”
Colewulf poured a drink in Hellrien’s mug, his hand almost trembling with anger. ”You could have been killed…”
”We all could have”, Hellrien added dryly.
”Exactly…” Colewulf drew a long breath through his nostrils. ”Makes me wonder why my driver got suddenly ill…”
A knock on the door interrupted him. ”Who is it?” Hellrien asked sharply.
”Your steak, ma’am.”
”Come in.”
A young hobbit entered the room and left the tray with Hellrien’s meal on the table. Hellrien tipped him off, pulled out a chair and sat down. Her stomach growled at the delicious scent of the juicy steak and buttered potatoes. Colewulf walked to the other side of the room to peer out of the window, sipping his drink frequently.
”It’s definitely something I’d look into if I was you”, Hellrien mumbled between bites.
”Oh, I will…”
”Mhh-m! That cider would go very well with this…” Hellrien helped herself with some of the Wulf-cider. Colewulf turned from the window and tilted his head to the side.
”Did the driver do anything except drive the cart? Was he alone with the goods at any time?”
”I wouldn’t think so. At least one of the other guards was always inside the cart, all three of them most of the time. The driver did help with loading and unloading the stuff in Stock. I remember that he struck me as nervous, but I figured it was because he was new to his trade. He talked a lot about brigand attacks. I don’t remember him talking much about anything else.”
”I’m not sure of his angle… but if he was mysteriously absent during the attack, could he have been with the goods while ye were preoccupied?”
”You mean when the brigands attacked? No way. We were all sitting in the cart when it happened, and I was the only one who left it before it was all over. It happened very fast. I suppose he could have been paid for not warning us about the attack.”
Colewulf ran his fingers through his goatee ponderously. ”I need to check the merchandise I got back from the trip… make sure nothing is missing.”
”What could be missing?” Hellrien glanced over her shoulder, suddenly alerted by Cole’s obsession over his merchandise. ”Just apples and cloth on the way back from Stock, right? At least that’s what you told me.”
Colewulf cracked his neck and nodded slowly. ”Yes…” He didn’t sound very convincing.
”Unless there was something else?” Hellrien pressed on as she poured more cider in her tankard. ”Of course you’re under no obligation to tell me if you have something going on.”
”Nothing else is going on.”
”Very well, sir”, Hellrien restrained herself. She was, after all, just a paid guard – handsomely paid, for that matter. It was not her business if her client was mixed up with some kind of smuggling operation or something. ”Sorry for prying.”
”No matter…”
”Huh, that was delicious!” Hellrien declared, pushing her empty plate aside. ”Now I think it’s about time to get properly sloshed.”
”Good idea!” Colewulf agreed, slugged down the rest of his wiskey and poured himself a tankard of Wulf-cider as well. They toasted to each other and drank.
”Want me to tell Nob to bring us a few more bottles?”
”Yeah, sure, great idea!” Hellrien couldn’t tell about Cole, but she was beginning to get drunk. Colewulf opened the door and yelled for Nob to bring more cider in the room. Then he turned back to Hellrien.
”I have to say, I’m impressed… a lass that can take down three men and then come back to town and fill a dress so nicely! Hard to come by, eh?”
”Just another trollop trying to make ends meet”, Hellrien said dismissively. Nob, the hobbit, pushed the door open and handed the bottles to Cole, who tipped Nob off and laid the bottles on the table.
”This stuff is getting to my head already”, Hellrien slurred her words a little, ”which is nice!”
”Goes down smooth but gets ye off yer head, eh?”
Hellrien chugged down her pint and got up unsteadily. She walked around in the room, lurching a little.
”Be careful or ye may be havin’ me carry ye home!”
Hellrien slumped down to sit on her bed, pretending like she didn’t understand Cole’s jest. ”I am home!”
”No wish to stay in one of my guest rooms? Softer mattress than that ol’ thing fer sure!”
Hellrien stared intently in Cole’s eyes for a long time, the way drunken people do. ”Guest rooms? But I paid for this room!”
”You wouldn’t have to pay fer a room if ye keep saving me coin.”
Hellrien didn’t say anything for a while. She wasn’t a complete daft, she knew well what the man wanted. She was no prude either, and she had nothing against Cole. She liked the man, and found him attractive, as most women undoubtedly would. But she was not drunk enough not to be mindful of the fact that an affair with a client might potentially complicate things, even a short affair, unless the client in question was specifically paying for that kind of attention.
Hellrien had learned a long time ago she was not like most other women. When other little girls in Pelargir had dreamed about princes and dream weddings, Hellrien had dreamed about sea battles and Gondorian warships. Things had not changed much when she had grown up. She had never been in love. She didn’t even understand the concept of being in love. Having a husband and spouting about ten children to ruin her figure and all her future plans was not part of the plan. There were a lot men claimed to be like that, but she had also noticed that it didn’t take a lot with many of them to suddenly become clingy, possessive and obsessive. And she wasn’t sure if it was worth it to risk something like that with Cole.
"Ye're not about to take advantage of a drunken lady, are ya, sir?" Hellrien queried mischievously, raising an eyebrow.
”Only if invited!” Cole responded, laughing. ”But then again, it wouldn’t be me taking advantage, would it?”
”Not sure if that would be a good idea... you being my client an' all. Wouldn't that be unethnical or something?”
”Maybe some would consider it unethical… but I don’t care much fer that.”
”I don't care much for that either to be frank. But what I do care about is, would that make things... awkward, afterwards?”
”Maybe…” Cole chuckled softly, sipping his drink. ”But I’m not afraid to take risks… are ye?”
"Lemme tell you something about myself, sir. I don't mind a good roll in the hay on occasion, but I never want marriage or kids or anything like that. I'm what some folk would consider a ’worldly’ woman. Worldly and shallow."
"I have no wish fer marriage either... no ties makes it easy when ye leave town fer business..."
”Well, consider yourself warned anyway!”
”Ye as well!” Cole winked, sitting by the bed next to Hellrien.
”I guess we could have an after-party at your place, if that’s what you want…” Hellrien pondered out loud, suddenly indifferent to the complications it might have with their professional relationship. Too much booze will have that effect on anyone.
”I suppose that could be fun… would ye like to?”
”Have a few drink and see what happens. I have no plans for tomorrow.”
Colewulf stood up with a smile, offering Hellrien his hand. "Could always stay here and give Barliman a reason to buy a new mattress... and perhaps new plaster fer the walls...”
”Or we could do that”, she responded with a shrug and took his hand. ”I don’t care. I have not much of a reputation to uphold.”
Colewulf burst into laughter and shook his head, pulling Hellrien up. ”Let’s go!” My home has more of this and I don't have to pay fer it!"
* * *
Hellrien stood her horse on the familiar yard of the Greenway Company headquarters. It was very late in the night – or early in the morning – so there was no sign of anyone else about.
”Let's get inside, then. That riding sure made me thirsty!”
Colewulf dismounted first and helped Hellrien down, lifting her up on his shoulder like a ragdoll. He was surprisingly strong for a city-dwelling merchant.
”I've got a massive keg of that cider, think ye can drink it all?”
”Given enough time, I will!”
Colewulf carried Hellrien through the hallway, kicking open the doors and surely waking up the servants and staff, in case there were any in the building. He stopped in front of the large keg and set her down there.
”Your carriage has arrived, miss!”
”You have mugs or want me to drink straight from the tap, sir?”
Cole lied down on the floor and wedged his head under the tap. He opened it and started guzzling down the cider as it streamed from the tap.
”I see how it’s done then…”
After a while Cole closed the tap and made room for Hellrien on the floor next to him. ”Whenever yer ready…”
Hellrien grinned and followed Cole’s example.
Some time later they were both lying on the cider-soaked carpet under the tap. Hellrien rested her head on Cole’s arm, staring at the ceiling. ”I think your roof is spinning, sir… is there a hurricane?”
”Don’t ye wish to drink anymore?” Cole asked.
”Maybe after a (urrrp!) …little break.”
Cole turned to his side and looked over Hellrien. She stared right back, and the expression of her eyes changed. They became blurry, dreamy.
”And what should we do during this little break?”
Hellrien looked at Cole, squinting her eyes. The cider churned in her stomach.
”You could carry me over to your bed, I suppose. I’m in no shape to put up much of a fight…”
Cole slipped his arms underneath Hellrien and picked her up from the floor. His warm touch burned like fire.
”Suppose that’s a great idea…”
