Stepping along the market square in Trestlebridge Hellrien immediately noticed the stinging, putrid smell of a town that had been absent during her long ride from Towerglan. The morning had been chilly at first, and the monotonous thumping of Bitsy’s hooves against the hard-packed ground had lulled her into a sleepy half-slumber, but now all the smells and sounds struck her straight in the face. She grasped her traveling bag and walked hastily over the paved street towards the shade of the stalls in the shopping district. The wide market square was almost deserted. The stalls too were abandoned. Thick layers of dirt covered house corners. The trees bordering the main street were brown and leafless.
Feeling a little lost, Hellrien stopped into the shade to ponder which direction she would go next. Some time had passed since her last visit in Trestlebridge. Last time she had killed a half-orc who had held a grudge against the mayor and his wife and sworn bloody revenge against the whole community. But that had happened months ago, the whole affair had been swept under the rug discreetly and Hellrien didn’t think there would be many who rememberer or recognized her anymore apart from the mayor, his wife and The Bloody Dawn contingent stationed here. Pulling the slouch of her hat casually over her eyes she stepped into the incandescent sunlight. Her shirt glued onto her back. Briskly she stepped along the main street and immediately fixed her attention to the big, garish signboard hanging over the entrance of the Soot & Stain tavern. Hellrien looked around. Looked and saw what appeared to be a high-scale boarding house, if she was allowed to make that assumption from the two doorkeepers guarding the entrance. She stepped inside into a warm, dusty hall. Thick candles were burning on a shelf. The woman sitting at a table glanced at Hellrien with her bags, dirty clothes and beads of sweat and received her like she was the Queen of Gondor. Hellrien had the opportunity to pick and choose, and she decided on a room with two windows to the street and a straight view to the Soot & Stain almost straight across the street. After paying the exorbitant rent for three days she also bought a whole firkin of (also exorbitantly priced) ale to keep her company.
A moment later she was sitting half-naked in her comfortable room, feet on the table, window open and a tankard in hand. Chugging ale she sat there peering grouchily at the tavern. She remembered another time when she had been sent on the case of an elusive robber chief on scant leads and rumors. She hated that. The first time she had still been with The Sworn Brotherhood. The whole affair had resulted on a bloody confrontation and had almost cost her her life, but at least she had been successful in breaking up Ernil’s operation and killing the tomb-robber chief. But now… She knocked the ashes off her pipe’s chamber with unnecessary force. Three months had passed since the trip to the Blue Mountains, and in the meanwhile she had gotten into a relationship with a married man who lived in Bree. What had started out as a promising, purely physical relationship had gotten complicated when he had turned too needy, clingy and possessive. In the end she had broken up the affair, and she really didn’t feel mentally prepared for spy games. Dammit, she was not fit for this kind of cloak and dagger malarkey! Cursing to herself she noted that she would have to buy some new dresses. Thinking of her yellow dress put her into an even surlier mood. Most women in Trestlebridge seemed to favor less conspicuous colors and lighter fabrics, but Hellrien had always lacked an eye for fashion. This thought forced her to note that with a dress she couldn’t wear any of her usual weapons, at most she could carry a concealed dagger under the skirt strapped against her thigh. Remembering the sparring contest with Ingrandor in the Dawnhall made her swear again. Sauron take Seyton Redweed, Lily and this accursed rat-hole of a town!
She emptied her tankard, slumped on the bed and fell asleep straight away.
When she woke up late in the evening she was feeling a lot better. She had not had a lot of sleep last night. A quick washing up perked her up even more, and when she went downstairs for a dinner she even felt eager to check out this mysterious lady of the night, the mistress of a notorious brigand captain and a spy for a wealthy merchant in Bree. The dinner was good, and after she had washed it down with a couple of tankards of Nellie Boskins’ excellent ale she strode across the street, approaching the brightly lit entrance of the tavern from the side.
A quick glance through the windows told her that the tavern was crammed almost to the rafters, that four sporting girls were performing a bawdy song in front of a big mirror in the back and that the walls were decorated with orc rugs, battle axes, bows, spears and other similar trophies the Trestlebridge watchmen had managed to loot defending the town from constant orc attacks. In a way those trophies were an indicator of that shift in mood Bree-land had experienced in the past few years. Ten years ago orc weapons decorating the walls of an inn would have been considered macabre and showing bad taste in a town like Trestlebridge.
Hellrien pushed open the door and shoved herself in. The air in the tavern was gray with smoke, even with many of the windows opened. Even the draft couldn’t evaporate the smoke. A lot of loud, drunken conversations rumbled in the air. There were a lot of customers and plenty of sporting ladies as well. Most girls wore garish dresses with beads, frets and pretty boots with high heels.
It took her a while to find a spot at the bar. Hellrien ordered a tankard and had to pay 15 coppers for a pint of ale. Seeing her face the manager explained:
”The entertainment is included in the price.”
Hellrien shrugged. The gaze of her blue eyes swept across the room. She hadn’t gotten any kind of description, so any of these women could have been Lily. She smoked her pipe and waited. Two girls had just stopped singing, and after them some more girls strutted around the room, lifting the hem of their skirts to show off their legs to potential customers. One girl went even further and flashed her bare behind to the eager audience. The applauds were deafening. Hellrien squirmed uneasily on her stool and ordered another pint. She looked at the middle-aged manager, Linda Bulrush, who had not shown a glimmer of recognition in her hard, watery eyes. Hellrien decided to take a risk and play a stranger.
”Are you the proprietor?” she queried from the older woman.
Linda Bulrush gave her a stern look.
Hellrien smiled. ”I like it”, she said, glancing over the customers, girls and the wall decorations.
Linda Bulrush abated.
”I am”, she said. ”Miss Bulrush.”
”Hel… en. Is Lily working here tonight?”
The stern look reappeared. ”She is not, miss.”
”I know her, see”, Hellrien explained. ”We used to work in Bree. In the same trade.” She threw another interested look around the hall.
Linda Bulrush went to handle half a dozen other orders and then returned, this time measuring Hellrien from head to toe with an interested, calculating look.
”Grown bored with Bree, luv? Don’t I know you from somewhere? Have you ever worked in my house before?”
”I don’t think so. But yeah, I might be looking for a change of scenery. It’s too restless in Bree.”
The older woman nodded. ”Lily had similar problems, luv”, she said. ”But here things are different. It’s very peaceful in Trestlebridge. Very serene.”
Hellrien smiled. Linda Bulrush’s blatant lies made her own lies easier.
”I could well imagine working in a town like that”, she said dryly.
Suddenly miss Bulrush looked up. ”There’s Lily”, she announced.
Hellrien turned to follow the direction of her gaze. A man had appeared on the upstairs balcony, accompanied by a woman. They stood looking down at the hall. The man was small and in his fifties, and the woman was at least a head taller than him. Her hair was ashen blond (and definitely dyed, Hellrien mused), and her face appeared unusually brown and fresh against the hair. She was wearing a black, long-sleeved dress with a high collar. She wasn’t dressed at all like a lady of the night, which Hellrien thought odd.
Hellrien looked about and noticed several young men having an immediate change in their behavior. When miss Bulrush became momentarily occupied with work Hellrien stood still, looking a bit hesitant. If Lily had shirked her spying assignment with Bruner Stouttrush she must have done so for a reason, and trying to make contact with the code words given by Fiontann would not result in the desired outcome. Indeed, she would probably blow her chances to learn anything at all from the woman. She had to think of something else to gain her trust, and an ancient trick had to make do once again. Linda Bulrush had given her an idea with her remark of Trestlebridge as a ’peaceful and serene’ town.
Hellrien pushed her way through the crowd, stopped for a moment to breath in pure, cool open air and then briskly headed north. Near the Trestlebridge Barracks she spotted a man who looked suitable for her purposes, leaning against a barrel. He had a small clay pipe in his right hand as he inhaled the smoke and blew it out. He was wearing a brown pair of leather trousers and a leather jacket of the same color, and a red shirt under the jacket. His hair was short and brown and his brown beard was well-kept and trimmed. He was tall, about 6’3’’ and muscular, and he had a sword stuck to the ground next to him. There was a certain kindness to his eyes, eyes which kept looking around as if nothing would escape his gaze. There was nobody standing close to him and the few people outside seemed eager to maintain their distance. Hellrien went over to him and asked if he would like to earn twenty silver pieces. The man raised a brow, looked at her up and down and said: ”Twenty silvers is a lot, miss. I'd suspect that's dirty work.”
”Yeah, but nothing too rough”, Hellrien said, showing him a coin purse and opening it just enough so he could see the color of silver. ”Could we talk somewhere out of the prying eyes?”
The man looked at the coin purse and then at Hellrien indifferently, then pulled the sword from the ground and sheathed it. With a swift motion he turned the pipe around and dropped it’s contents on the ground. Stepping on them, he motioned for Hellrien to go first. ”After you.”
Hellrien realized well the danger she was putting herself in by going first, so she glanced back immediately as they turned into an empty side street. The stranger followed, looking around every now and then, hand resting on the hilt of his sword, looking quite relaxed. Hellrien filled her pipe calmly and pointed the stem of the pipe towards the building south of them. ”The Soot & Stain. You know the place?”
”I’ve heard of it”, the man said, looking at the direction the pipe stem was pointing and nodded. ”I've some friends that visit it frequently. I for once don't. What of it? You want one of the women attacked?”
”Precisely!” Hellrien uttered. ”Only, I don't want you to do it for real. Just act, so I will step in and throw you out of the establishment. We need to make it look real. Do you think you can do that?”
”I prefer that over hitting a woman.”
”A gentleman, huh? So it's a deal then?”
”It is. Who is it you want to ’save’?”
Ten minutes later Hellrien walked back into the Soot & Stain and positioned herself at the bar. Immediately she spotted the woman’s blond head over the mostly dark clothing of the patrons. She was unusually tall for a Bree woman – about as tall as Hellrien – but her calm self-assurance made her appear almost queenly rather than clumsy or masculine. Hellrien kept an eye on her as she walked around the hall chatting and smiling to her acquaintances, of which there were many.
From the corner of her eye Hellrien saw her ’agent’ appearing into the tavern. This time he was wearing a long black cloak, buttoned-up, hood pulled over his head and a handkerchief around his face covering his nose and mouth. With force he stormed into the inn, wielding a makeshift wooden club in hand. Gradually Hellrien started inching towards Lily while keeping herself covered by some other patron at the same time. The crowded inn filled with shouts and screams when the stranger grabbed the tall woman by her shoulder and started pulling her outside.
”Shanno told me that you robbed him, wench”, he shouted and pushed her towards the door. ”I am here to teach you not to rob my boys.”
He hurried behind Lily, not allowing her to escape and kept his left hand to his side to prevent anyone from coming at him. Hellrien inched closer.
”Move! Out! Fast!” he ordered the distressed woman as he pushed her towards the door. ”No one robs my boys. They treat you well. Too well it seems! An example must be set!” He pulled her outside.
Hellrien started going after them. A husky woman’s voice shouted behind her: ”Don't do it, miss! Don't push your luck!”
Hellrien stepped outside. The stranger ignored her, lifting the club as if to beat Lily with it.
”You will behave to my men!” he shouted. ”I don't want to destroy your pretty face!”
Hellrien stepped closer to the pair, fixing her gaze at the man. ”Drop the club”, she ordered.
The man turned his head, as if noticing Hellrien for the first time. ”Or what?”
Hellrien stepped even closer.
”Drop it”, she said calmly. ”You weak, cowardly dog.”
The man repeated her words as he turned to face her. ”Or what, I ask again?” Hellrien didn’t respond. Instead she stretched her hand to grasp his club to wrench it out of his hand. He took a step closer too and swung the club towards her, intentionally aiming past her shoulder. Hellrien acted really fast to ’dodge’ the club, swirled around and when the momentum brought the man past her she landed a punch to his neck. He staggered backwards and fell down in a very theatrical manner. His head dropped to the ground and his left hand clutched to it as he started getting up. ”What, how?!” he said and swung his right fist towards her, again aiming past her. Hellrien dodged the swing easily and punched both of her fists against his midsection – stopping the blow an inch before it punched air out of his lungs. He let out his breath grunting loudly and staggered backwards, pretending to be struggling for air. He stopped and breathed heavily and gazed at both women before he dusted himself off proudly.
”Well, I will let you go this once but I'll be back”, he said and looked around, knowing that a guard might arrive at any moment by the commotion. ”I’ll see you again, girl”, he added and ran away to his horse.
Hellrien picked up the club and glanced at a pile of firewood stacked up in a corner. With a forceful twist of her wrist she flung the club on top of the pile.
Then she reached out her hand and fixed her eyes on Lily, who was scrambling up from the ground looking at Hellrien in turn.
Hellrien grasped her soft, cold hand, helped her up and released her grip.
”Are you alright?” Hellrien asked softly, looking straight into her eyes.
”I am”, she said calmly. ”Thanks to you.”
”The pleasure was all mine”, Hellrien replied. ”I’m sure you will get no bother from him tonight.”
With a light curtsy Hellrien turned on her heels and headed towards the door.
