FreeHolds Adventure, Cycle 1 Part 8d
So it went, Tipper fought until the ring master closed down. She won five more fights. The first two were with men who thought she had been lucky against the first fellow, they both went down quick and hard. Then a local farming gal though she could take Tipper and did a better job than the previous two but not better enough. Around that point Tipper ran out of quince, a couple of young women moved out of the crowd and passed her the bottle they had been drinking from, Tipper kissed the girl that had given her the drink. Then she fought a foreign fellow, a chap from Maldorn, he landed a few good strikes and bloodied her face but as soon as she got her hands on him he was screaming in agony. Poor guy had to be carried out of the pit. The last fight was against another woman, she was a copper skinned Hapanni lady who knew how to fight, Tipper won that one when she managed to throw the woman from the ring.
Mokha collected his winning as did Adwin, who had kept betting, even though the odds went the other way pretty quickly, he just kept rolling his winnings into the next fight. Tipper and the two young women who had jumped into the pit to feed her alcohol joined them and they all headed back to the tavern together.
As they settled around a table and Tipper went to get drinks from the tap lady one of the other woman smiled at Mokha from across the table, “Hi, I’m Celestial.”
She and her friend wore expensive looking clothing, fairly revealing, they wore silver and gold, makeup and perfume as well. Mokha took her hand and gave a squeeze. “I’m Mokha Nathorah, this is my friend Adwin.”
“Hi Adwin. I’m Celestial and this is Raven.”
Adwin shook their hands, “Where do you know Tipper from?”
“Oh, by the gods, isn’t she wonderful.” Raven gushed.
Tipper returned with drinks and a clean face, minus a scrape on her brow and a few bruises, including a black eye. “That was some fun. Here’s to all you.” She guzzled the beer.
Mokha toasted her, “Those were some impressive fights Tipper. Adwin and I won a decent bit of coin.”
“Good, lets get a couple of bottles and head up to our room.”
Mokha smiled, “Excellent, my lute is there and I’ve acquired what smells like some excellent hashish.”
Adwin seemed surprised and Raven jumped up excited. Tipper gave Celestial a passionate kiss. They exited to the north wing, shouting and cavorting drunkenly as they went. Some of the staff and other clientele found their antics amusing, others seemed less enthusiastic and at least one fellow opened his door to tell them to simmer down. Laughter and heckling assaulted him until the man retreated back into his room.
Once in the room Raven pressed Adwin to the wall and started making out with him, Tipper stripped off her clothing and opened one of the bottles they had bought, Celestial moved around the room a bit, affected an attitude of shyness. Mokha dug his lute out and tuned it. Celestial settled on the bed beside him commenting on how much she liked music, Adwin ducked away from Raven, losing his tunic in the process and moved about the room as if he was looking for a way to escape.
After a song or two Celestial complimented him on his playing, Tipper and Raven had cornered Adwin and wrestled him out of his clothing. Mokha set his lute aside and dug out the block of hashish he had bought, thumbing a bit into the small metal pipe. Celestial asked if she could have one of his cigarillos, a box of them had been placed in the bag when the woman at the kiosk had accused him of overpaying. He lit the narrow cigar with the tip of his finger then applied the flame to the pipe, inhaling a large amount of smoke, making sure the pipe was well lit before passing it around.
They eventually all ended up naked, they passed the bottles around and Mokha kept the pipe burning and played music in between rounds of frolicking. Adwin and the women ended up in a pile on the bed across from him, eventually they started passing out or dozing off. At one point Mokha lay back to rest his eyes.
—
When he opened his eyes again someone was pounding on the door to the room. A bit startled his sat upright, his lute nearly falling to the floor. The room was bright with daylight. Again someone pounded on the door, a woman told them Mr. Semosse expected them out by midday. Tipper pitched a bottle at the door though did not rise from the bed she was on. Adwin, somewhere the other side of the room, likely under a pile of blankets, groaned. There was no sign of the other two women.
Mokha got up, looked around the room, things were missing. His hashish, his winnings from the night before and the few bits of jewellery he usually stashed on his person were gone. He shook Tipper by the shoulder, “Get up, we’ve been robbed.”
Adwin surfaced from the pile of blankets, “Robbed, but we were here all night.”
Tipper turned over, placed a hand on her forehead, “Pretty bitches.”
Adwin’s eyes went big, “Oh no, oh no, oh no.” he said over and over until he had searched all the room.
Eventually Tipper sat up, “I need water.”
Adwin, “My sword, my share of the loot, my winnings from last night. All gone. I think they even took my hat.”
Mokha looked at him, “Didn’t you put anything in the safe?”
“What safe?” Adwin snapped at him. “I didn’t hear anything about a safe.”
“What about your nut?”
“My nuts are where they should be, what are you thinking?”
“No, no. Your nut. The one the goblin historian gave you from the heart tree.”
Adwin dug through some of the stuff on the floor, pitching clothing and supplies one way or the other. Eventually he found the plainly made box with the nut “It here. But I’ve lost almost all my coin and valuables. How am I going to pay to stay in GreensBridge for two seasons?”
Mokha was relieved he still had the nut but asked Adwin to open it to double check. He fumbled with the box for a bit, “It’s a puzzle box, I haven’t been able to open it since she gave it to me.”
“Oh, well that’s likely a good thing.”
“Why do you even care about my nut!” He tossed the box and flopped down on one of the beds.
Tipper managed to sit up, she looked rough. She scowled at Adwin, “You should have put your valuables in the safe.”
“I didn’t know there was a safe we could use!”
“Alright, if we’re quick maybe we can catch them, they might not have gone far.”
Adwin dashed to the small window and looked out, then to the door.
Mokha calmly pointed out, “You might want clothing.”
“Gods be damned.” Adwin started tossing things around the room looking for his clothes.
Mokha said, “Tipper’s right, they likely haven’t gotten far. I can likely trace them with magic.”
“Really?”
“Yes really.” Mokha got up and looked Tipper over. She just looked at him wondering what he was doing.
“Ah, here, stay still.” He peeled a long black hair from her side and held it to the light. “Look’s like one of Raven’s.”
Tipper rolled out of bed, “I need a bath, we should all bath actually. And Adwin, calm down. I put the weight from the sale of the horses into the safe. You are far from a popper.”
Adwin did calm, “Oh, well that’s good. We still have to find those women and get our things.”
“Yes, we will, food, bath, water.”
“We also have to be out of here before midday.” Mokha reminded them.
It took a while, but they did eventually sort themselves out. Mr. Semosse was not too pleased with them and added a fee to their stay for their disruptive and disturbing behaviour, reminding Mokha that there were reasons Aggedrah were often considered a detriment to such fine establishments.
Mokha was not in the mood to argue with Semosse and Adwin was wanting to get on the trail of the women as fast as he could. Mokha told Mr. Semosse to keep the balance on the piece of jewellery he had given him and apologized for any inconvenience he or his friends may have caused.
After collecting their mounts the trio huddled together, Mokha took out the long black hair and muttered a few words and waved his hand over it. After a moment of concentration he said, “Northwest, a couple yat from here.”
Tipper nodded, “Good, that’s the direction to the bridge anyway.”
They headed out, making good time for the first while, but as they moved closer to the bridge they ran into more people and the periodic villages became more common, though most of them seemed to be small farming communities. People, wagons and animals were more abundant along the road, slowing their progress. Near mid afternoon they could clearly see one of the large green towers of GreensBridge. However, Mokha told them that the woman they were pursuing was further ahead than she had been earlier.
Adwin still a bit flustered, “But she has my hat and all my valuables.”
“They seem to be heading for GreensBridge, I’m sure we’ll find them.” Tipper tried to reassure him.
“Besides, even if they stay ahead of us through the day, I’ll still be able to follow the Raven woman. I have her hair.” Mokha assured him.
“Good,” Adwin said with vehemence, “I want my stuff.”
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