support herself and her two boys for many years; her husband’s dead. Will that be enough for a home and regular food and clothes?”
“That would be plenty enough for a comfortable life for ten years,” Castona answered, “if that was all she’d get. That’s not all I’m offering Kestrel. That’s how much gold I can afford to give your lady friend up front.
“I’ll call an auction, and I’ll take the first twenty golds we receive as repayment for what I gave your girl. Everything we raise after that we’ll split in half — half for her and half for me,” he explained.
“How much more will that be?” Kestrel asked, astonished at the idea.
“If we get the right traders in here, and I’ll make sure we do, I think I’ll get thirty golds, and your friend will get another thirty golds, plus the first twenty,” Castona replied exuberantly. “We’ll both be rich! You can’t believe how long it’s been since a yeti was killed and authenticated, and you’ve got the head and the hands, which is strong authentication! I’ll bet it’s been a dozen years in Estone!
“The old men will go crazy for this stuff,” he patted the keg. “That taste I just took would be worth a year’s wages for some folks.
“You’ll be a hero! The man who killed a yeti! We’ll take you to the Doge’s palace for an interview. That’ll stir up the market, and guarantee even higher prices,” Castona plotted.
“I don’t think I should get that much publicity,” Kestrel protested, “especially if my ears are growing out.”
“It’s like I said before; we’ll put a hat on you; actually we’ll bandage you and tell them you got a scalp injury from the yeti. The Doge’s people won’t mind. He’ll get the prestige and publicity he wants to help him shore up his supporters in the Assembly — we could even give him a little sample of the yeti blood as a token of respect, and he could make a lot of friends; that’s what we’ll do,” Castona reached over and patted Kestrel’s shoulder, just as there was a knock at the door.
“Your woman’s here,” a voice said from outside the door.
“Hold her; we’ll be there in a minute,” Castona shouted. “Do we have a deal?” he asked Kestrel.
Things were happening fast, too fast for Kestrel’s comfort, but Arlen had said to trust this trader.
“It’s a deal,” he agreed. They both thumped their hands on the tabletop to signal the bargain sealed, then started walking towards the front of the store.
“Wait here,” the merchant said by one door in the hallway, which he slipped into. Seconds later he came back out with a leather pouch, which he deposited in Kestrel’s hand. “Here’s your money. Better not to show it out in public, or you may get robbed in the square. If I were you I’d take your lady to the closest bank and put most of it in an account for her immediately.”
Kestrel followed Castona out to the trading room, behind the counter, and he immediately saw Merilla, looking uncomfortable as she stood and tried to hold the two squirming boys, while the men in the place unabashedly examined her.
“You got yourself quite a beauty there, Kestrel!” Castona said loudly. “You two go and have a good time. Come back and see me tomorrow afternoon and we’ll start working on details.”
“How long will all this take?” Kestrel asked, apprehensive about the potential length of his stay in the human city. Despite his humanization with Merilla, he still found the city environment, with its lack of trees, its stone and brick and wooden buildings, and humans crowded together, nearly overwhelming.
“We’ll start it tomorrow, you’ll see the Doge the day after, and the auction will be three days after that — quick and easy,” Castona answered reassuringly, patting his back. “Now go to a bank, then go have fun!”
The boys gleefully spotted Kestrel, and he rounded the corner to take Jacob from Merilla’s weary arms.
“How did it go?” Merilla asked as they walked out the door.
Without speaking, Kestrel swung Jacob up onto the back of his horse, then took Marco from Merilla and swung him up next to his brother.
“Close your eyes,” he told Merilla, “and hold out your hands.”
She looked at him with a mock suspicion, then did as directed. Kestrel took the bag the merchant had given him and opened the mouth, then poured the heavy contents into his friend’s hands. As the coins clinked and the load in her hands grew heavier, she opened her eyes and looked down, then looked up at Kestrel as she began to cry at the sight of all the gold she held.
“Thank you Kai!!” she whispered, “Thank you.
“Here, put it back in the bag,” she told Kestrel, then hugged him tightly when her hands were free, and he felt her body shake, as she was overcome with emotion.
“Youkal would be so happy if he knew his boys were going to be raised so well,” she sobbed the words out. “Oh Kestrel, thank you, thank you so much.”
“Let’s go to a bank and put your money safely away,” he suggested when he felt the tremors begin to lessen.
They walked with their horse and the boys, all of them covered still in the dust of the roads they had traveled, and stepped into a nearby bank, the Estone Shippers Bank, where they shocked the teller with the request to open an account to save their exorbitant horde of cash, retaining only a few silvers and coppers of cash.
“We can afford to spend the night at an inn! We can sleep on mattresses!” Merilla said happily, her eyes asparkle in the realization of all that awaited.
They found a nice inn, one in which they could afford two rooms, then paid a portion of Merilla’s coins for the rooms and for a stall in the stable. Kestrel and the boys took the horse to the stable, while Merilla ordered a tub of hot water sent to their room for a soaking bath.
Kestrel arranged for a bucket of mash to treat the horse, then let the boys play in the stall while he brushed the animal thoroughly, taking his time both to pamper the animal, as well as to give Merilla the fullest amount of time possible to enjoy herself without any companions or interruptions as she bathed and rested. Eventually though, the boys were restless and the currying was accomplished, so they took a long, slow walk around the square, then returned to their inn and went upstairs to their two side-by-side rooms.
Kestrel opened one door and ushered the boys in. They were tired, and upon seeing the large bed they rushed to it, climbed up onto the top of the mattress, and announced they would take a nap. There was no tub in the room, leaving Kestrel concerned and confused. He saw the door to the adjoining room was slightly ajar, and he cautiously peaked through the gap. His limited field of view included the sight of half a large tub of water, sitting empty in the guestroom.
He cautiously pushed the door open and peaked further into the room, where he saw Merilla, undressed, her hair hanging damply down her back, as she stood in front of a mirror, critically examining her body, as she limply held a towel in one hand, away from her torso. He immediately withdrew his head back into the room with the boys, and leaned against a patch of wall next to the door frame. His eyes were closed, and his mind was filled with a surprisingly detailed memory of the human woman’s body he had observed. His imagination recalled Alicia’s elven frame, as he had seen it at the spring, and he compared and contrasted the slender, wiry woman of the elven race to the fuller, rounder body he had just peered upon, with the full breasts and the curving hips.
He found Merilla’s appearance erotic and desirable, and he silently asked himself if he was turning so human that he had come to share their sexual tastes and preferences, or if he had simply developed such a depth of affection for Merilla herself that he found her person attractive. He shouldn’t think of her as a mate, a physical partner, he knew; as a recent widow she was taboo to him with his elven sensibilities, though he didn’t know what human culture said about such customs.
“Kestrel?” Merilla’s voice whispered, virtually in his ear, making him jump in surprise.
He opened his eyes and turned to see her leaning through the doorway, wrapped in her towel from her armpits down to the top of her thighs.
“Are the boys asleep?” she asked.
He looked over at the two still bodies that lay on the bed. “I think so; they were worn out,” Kestrel whispered back.
“Come in here so we don’t wake them,” she tugged him through the doorway into the other room, then closed the door silently.
“That felt wonderful,” she said. “I’ll have to go wake them up soon so they can soak in the water while it’s still warm.”
“Where did you go? You were gone for a long time,” she said as she sat on the side of the bed, carefully
