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24.56% Two Swords and a Dagger / Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

»Did you miss me marilyThe Green Woman inhaled the cigarette. She looked at Tivon. »I see you brought me a gift.«

»He's with me.« said Elias coldly.

She put down the cigarette embers. She stood up and walked in front of the table. The Green Woman leaned on it and asked. »Then why are you here for?«

»Is your sister in town?« asked Elias, walking around the room.

»Of course she is.« She inhaled while examining every inch of Elias.

»She still visits you?«

»Of course, marily. I would never leave my dear little sister.« She raised her chin. »What do you want with her?«

Elias turned to her. »I want to talk to her. You know eye to eye.«

The Green Woman laughed. »Eye to eye? Ha! That can't be. Even if she wanted to, I won't allow it.«

»Is she having those two guards even here?«

»Yes.« she said after a minute, her voice rougher and annoyed. »Stop beating around the bush Grímur. What do you want with her?«

Elias' voice was calm, but it peered through the air like thunder. »I want to talk to her.«

»The only ones that can speak to her are my jade boys. You already missed your chance Grímur.« She smiled at him. »Unless you want to join.«

Elias rolled up his coat sleeve, showing her the tattoo on his wrist. »Can't be cursed with two deals.« He rolled down the sleeve.

The Green Woman rolled her eyes. »Sabur…« She put the cigarette in her mouth. »Sorry Grímur, can't arrange a meeting, she'll only talk to my boys.«

She glanced at Tivon, her chin up, eyes narrowed at him. »How old are you boy?«

»N-nineteen.« stuttered Tivon.

She stepped closer to him, walking around him. »Nineteen and that small.« She moved his collar a bit down to see a scar on his neck. »Not ideal, but it'll do.« She walked to her window moving the curtains. »I'll take the boy.«

Elias turned to her. »Excuse me?!«

»You can't come to me empty-handed. And if you want to talk to my sister, marily, that boy is the only way.«

»No. You don't get him.« Elias' voice was full of anger and to Tivon's surprise, panic.

The Green Woman turned around, closing the curtains. »Then forget about talking to my sister.«

Elias wanted to step forward as Tivon said. »I'll do it.«

Elias looked at him. »W-what? No.« He came closer to him, whispering. »No, I won't allow it.«

»It's okay.« He said quietly.

Even though Elias was wearing the mask, Tivon knew that he was panicking. Tivon looked at The Green Woman. »Can we talk somewhere? Alone.«

She studied him for a second and then nodded towards the two men standing behind them. They opened the door and showed them the room on the left. Tivon and Elias went in and in a second that the door closed, Elias put down the mask.

»Tivon, what do you think you're doing?« he said with panic in his voice.

»She said that the only way we can talk to her is if I work here.«

»Yeah, I get that, but do you even understand what it means to work in this kind of place?! To be in this place?!« Tivon could hear the distress in his voice. He looked around. They were in one of the rooms. The coloured walls were covered in paintings, the floor was covered in carpets and pillows.

Tivon looked Elias in the eyes. »If it's the only way, I'll do it.«

Elias grabbed his shoulders. »You are selling yourself away to The Jade Paradise. You are selling yourself away to The Green Woman! And her sister is in the top rank. You'll never get there in time.«

»Then tell Sabur to give us more time.« He lowered his voice and whispered to Elias. »I have a plan. We need to get some money from Sabur, with it you can bribe people to see me. If we pay them enough, they will leave me alone. Your position changes with ranking. Every customer gets to rank the boy at the end. If the rankings are high your position changes. We just need to bribe some people.«

Elias started walking around the room. »It may work, but I can't just leave you here.«

»We can still see each other every day. I saw the rankings and the schedule in The Green Woman's office. An hour a day belongs to each boy.«

Elias didn't want to look at him. »You can't just end the contract once you've signed it.«

»Don't worry about it for now.« Tivon grabbed his hand. »Elias, do you trust me?« Elias looked at him, his eyes were filled with discomfort and worry, but he still nodded.

»I'm going to be okay.« Said Tivon, releasing his hand, wanting to leave. Elias quickly grabbed him and hugged him.

»Be careful, please.«

»I will.«

Elias put his mask back on and they returned to the office.

The Green Woman turned around. »So?« Elias slowly nodded. Her smile turned into a big grin. »Great!« She walked behind her desk and pulled out a piece of paper from the drawer.

She gave it to Tivon. »Sign there.« She pointed at the bottom of the page with her quellazaire.

Tivon took the pen and signed the paper. The Green Woman took it. »Ah, Tivon. A peculiar name.« She looked at him. »Welcome to The Jade Paradise.« She pointed at the man. »Walk the new jade boy downstairs.«

Tivon looked at Elias and gave him a reassuring smile, then he left with the man.

The Green Woman looked at Elias. »Anything else marily

"Can you promise me something?"

She puffed out a laugh. "My promises are not free. Try me."

Elias turned around to leave the office. »If anyone by the name Pit comes here. Don't let him see Tivon.«

After a minute of thought, she said. »You have my promise.«

 

Tivon silently followed the man down the stairs. As they ended, the room opened into a bigger hallway lightened up with candles. On each side was a small cell with a bed. They walked down the hallway and then the man stopped by an empty cell.

»Your clothes and the bracelet. When you change, come back to The Green Woman's office.« Then he left.

Tivon looked at the blue bracelet - Blue rank, the lowest. There were five ranks. Blue, red, purple, yellow and green. If he wanted for this job to go as planned he needed to get to the green bracelet. I hope Elias can convince Sabur to stay here a bit longer and to give him money, thought Tivon as he was dressing up in his green dress.

He looked in the mirror on the wall. Almost all of his upper body was visible through the chiffon. He turned around to see that his whole scar could be seen. I really hope this plan works out.

When he got ready, he went straight to The Green Woman's office.

»Ah, you're here.« Said The Green Woman with a smile. »Let's get over some rules.« She crossed her hands and leaned her head on them.

"You probably already know about the rankings," Tivon said, nodding. "When a customer wants to see you, I'll notify you. If they pay for two hours, you two will have a room for one hour. The customer isn't allowed to touch or do anything to you for the first ten minutes. I've had too many issues with that in the past; it has cost me some of the boys' lives. Pity."

"After ten minutes, the client can do whatever they wish. You are not permitted to bring anything into the room, and the same applies to the customer. Everything needed will be provided in the room."

"Every day, you have an hour for yourself. You still need to behave, as I prefer to maintain a good reputation. Whatever happens to you on the street isn't my concern, so don't get into trouble. Also, you need to stay within the radius of the pleasure house; I don't want you running away. If I find out you've been out there for more than one hour..." She shrugged, took a cigarette, and lit it. "Here, you're provided with three meals a day. If you don't have work, you stay in your cell. I don't want you wandering around the house." She stood up and walked toward Tivon. "Any questions?"

»So the client can do anything to me?« asked Tivon nervously.

The Green Woman stroked him over his cheek. »Don't worry, they won't hurt you. At least they won't do anything that could kill you.« She smiled, causing Tivon's body to shiver. »You may go now.«

Tivon moved quickly to the door.

»Oh only one thing Tivon.« He turned around. She was smiling. »If you get any unnecessary ideas, there will be consequences. And you don't want to know what those consequences are.«

Tivon nodded and closed the door behind him. No, I really don't want to know about the consequences.

 

Elias was standing in the darkness of the captain's cabin, explaining to Sabur the plan.

»We'll need more time.« said Elias. »And money.«

»You have some guts to come to me and ask me for money.«

»Tivon just sacrificed himself, for your stupid job.« replied Elias angry.

Sabur leaned back in his chair and smiled. » The boy is your problem. Remember?«

Elias had enough of him. He raised his voice. »Do you want that necklace or not, Sabur?« He tried to steady his shaking voice. He continued, his voice quiet. "You've already broken the promise. You said I'll never have to see her again."

Sabur went silent for a bit and then he grabbed a sack of money from his drawer and put it on the table. »I give you two weeks.«

Elias tried to grab the sack, but Sabur stopped him. He looked him dead in the eyes. »If I don't get that necklace in time, the boy won't be your problem anymore. I'll make sure of it.«

He released the sack. Elias grabbed it, put his mask on and left.

»If you fail, I will kill the boy.« He leaned back. »If you even manage to get him back from The Green Woman


Chapter 15: Chapter 15

When Tivon woke up, the food was already waiting in front of his cell. He shoved the curtains away and took the food. On the plate, there was a bowl of rice and a bread roll.

His sleep wasn't pleasant. The cells didn't have doors, they were only covered with curtains, meaning that he could hear everything. The whole night he was thinking if Elias managed to convince Sabur to stay here. He felt panic rise in his chest when the thought that The Rose Sparrow had already left crossed his mind. He wouldn't leave me here.

Just as he finished eating, a bell on the wall of his cell rang. That meant that The Green Woman needed him. He put the plate on the side and headed to her office.

The office was still full of smoke-filled air, but the curtains were folded, bringing the morning light into the room. Tivon didn't like coming to this room, it didn't settle well with him.

The Green Woman was standing by the window. »You have your first customer. He's already waiting for you in room four.« She looked at him with a vile smile. »Don't disappoint me. Now hurry up, you don't want your client to be waiting.«

Tivon quickly bowed and rushed to room four. I hope it's someone Elias bribed in. When he opened the door an older man with a kerchief on his head was standing by the window. Tivon bowed and when he looked up, he was relieved to see the helmsman of The Rose Sparrow. He smiled at him.

»You don't need to be polite with me, Elias explained everything to me.«

»Oh, okay.« Helmsman sat down on the chair by the window.

»I never caught your name.« Said Tivon.

»Nick. And you're Tivon, right?«

Tivon nodded and sat on the other chair. There was a table in front of them and on it was a board. On one side there were black squared discs and on the other red squared discs. Nick noticed Tivon looking at it.

»Do you know how to play Elphaty?« asked Nick.

Tivon nodded. He played it with Rea on rainy days. It was somewhat like chess. You had a queen and with each move, you had to protect it, by drawing a pattern with your disks.

They prepared the game and started playing.

»How long have you been on The Rose Sparrow?« asked Tivon as he placed one of the disks on the board.

»Since I could remember.« He fixed his kerchief and placed a black disk on the board. »I still remember when Sabur brought Elias on that ship.«

»What was he like?«

Nick looked at Tivon. »Like you. Scared.« He looked back at the board. »But he was hiding it. He had just been stripped away from his parents. I knew there was something different about that boy. Sabur wouldn't let him live if he didn't see something in him.« He sighed. »Unfortunately, he saw a potential killer in him. And he made a killer out of him.«

He placed his last disk, winning the game. »Want to go again?«

»Yes.« Said Tivon and they started over again. »Did he ever try to escape?«

Nick laughed. »Numerous times.« He moved his sleeve showing the tattoo on his wrist, the same as Elias'. »But once you made the deal, you can't run away from it.«

»But why make a deal with pirates?«

»You don't have a choice. Either you die or someone else takes you.«

Tivon remembered when yesterday Elias showed The Green Woman his tattoo.

»Does The Green Woman want Elias?« questioned Tivon.

Nick hesitated for a second, a lump forming in his throat. He swallowed hard. »Yeah, she wanted to have him.« Nick placed the last disk, winning again. »But Sabur was quicker.«

»How are you so good at this game?«

Nick smiled. »One of my favourite games.« He stood up and looked at his pocket watch. »I'll have to go.« He walked to the doors. »Hope this plan of yours works kid. I don't want you stuck here." He looked around the room before he opened the door. "This is a bad place.«

He wanted to go, but Tivon stopped him. »Nick!« He turned around. »Thank you.«

He returned the smile. »No worry kid.« He opened the door, but before he left, he turned to Tivon and said. »Elias is waiting for you on the Fedir ally. There's a door with a red mark on it. You'll find the stairs there. He'll be waiting for you.«

He turned and closed the door before Tivon could say thank you to him again. He was glad that there were still some good people on The Red Sparrow. And if Nick was here, that meant the ship was still in the harbour. After a whole night of doubt crossing his mind, Tivon felt hopeful again.

 

Till afternoon when he had his one hour of free time, Tivon had no more customers, so he took one of The Jade Paradises silk hoods and headed outside. The Fedir ally. Fortunately, there was a sign pointing to streets across Bradfordshire. The Fedir ally was towards the west side of the town.

When he was walking to it, he tried to avoid bumping into people. His eyes were fixed on the ground, but he could still feel other eyes on him.

At last, he arrived at the house, with a sign Fedir ally and on the right side of the house there was a street. Tivon walked in it. The alleyway was narrow and nobody was walking there. Tivon picked up his step looking around for a red mark on the door. Eventually, he came across it. He opened the door and just like Nick said, there was a staircase leading to the trapdoor.

As he walked to the stairs he stopped, doubt came rushing into Tivon's mind. What if Nick lied? Was he about to get murdered? He remembered the words of The Green Woman 'Whatever happens to you on the street isn't my problem, so don't get in trouble'.

Tivon carefully went up the stairs. Before he opened the trapdoor, he took a breath and slowly and quietly opened it.

There was a small room barely enough for a bed, closet, and a table with two chairs.

»Tivon?«

Tivon fully opened the trapdoor and turned around. Elias was standing by the window. He smiled at him. »I see, the meeting with Nick went well.«

He came to him and offered him a hand for Tivon to climb into the room. Elias suddenly blushed while looking at Tivon. The tulle silky dress just barely covered up his skin. He quickly turned away so Tivon couldn't see his face.

»U-umm, do you want to eat something?« He started looking through the bag for food.

»Not really.« said Tivon.

Elias put some dried fruit on the table. Tivon sat down.

»How much did you pay Nick to visit me?«

Elias sat down, avoiding Tivon's eyes. »He said he will pay himself.«

»He's a good man.«

»A rarity on The Rose Sparrow. In the evening, I have an older lady for you. She lives here in Bradfordshire. You'll like her, she is nice. The only thing is, she can't talk. For other days I will have to find people. The problem is not getting people, but getting the right people.« Said Elias with a sigh.

»Yeah. We'll make it somehow.« Smiled Tivon, he looked around the room. »How did you get this room? Isn't it hard to get an apartment here?«?

»Oh, someone lives here.«

»What?« Said Tivon now scared that he had just broken in someone's place.

»He's not actually living here. At the time he is in Galssop.« said Elias calmly.

»How did you get the key?«

Elias put his feet on the table and leaned in his chair. He raised his hand and lockpicks on rope fell from them.

»Oh, of course.« Said Tivon, rolling his eyes, but still smiling.

»Did anything unusual happen to you?« asked Elias.

Tivon took one of the dried fruits off the table and ate it. »For now, no.«

»If anything does happen, tell me.« He put his feet down. »I'm prepared to burn that whole place down to get you out.«

Tivon had to laugh. He wasn't used to people caring for him to the point where they would commit arson for him. He noticed Elias hadn't looked at him since he came.

»You're avoiding me.« Said Tivon with a giggly smile.

»No, I'm not.« Said Elias, blushing.

He is. Tivon smiled and removed his silk hood. He leaned on the table. Elias' eyes moved towards him, but he quickly looked away. Tivon giggled.

»Stop it.« Elias' face turned red.

Tivon giggled again took one of the dried fruits and ate it. His look was fixed on Elias.

»Okay, enough fruits for you.« He took the dried fruit and pulled them toward himself. He smirked at him.

Tivon stood up and walked past him, eyes still fixed on him. He could see the panic in Elias' eyes. He moved his hand towards the dried fruit, the chiffon sliding against Elias' bare hand.

»Stop me.« said Tivon taking the fruit and putting it in his mouth.

Their eyes were fixed on each other. Checkmate, I win. Elias pushed the dried fruits towards him and looked away. »You win.«

Tivon started laughing and Elias had to too. »The pleasure house has really gotten into your head.« Said Elias.

»Let's hope for your sake that it doesn't.«

The bell of the nearby church rang. The laughter quickly stopped.

»I have to get back.« Tivon sighed.

Elias stood up and took Tivon's hood. He turned to Tivon and gave it to him. »See you tomorrow.«

Tivon smiled, took the hood and said. »Yes, tomorrow.«


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