tip of her scalp. Tusks jut up from her lower jaws, reaching to her eyebrows. Her clothes offer no hint of her gender; she always wears a long sleeved, walrus-skin coat that hangs down to her ankles. Aurora exhaled as she spotted Infidel, her breath coming out in a fog. The ogress is in charge of security at the Black Swan. While most of Infidel’s visits are peaceful, she’s been known, occasionally, to cause a bit of property damage.
“Where’s your shadow?” Aurora asked, squinting at the doorway behind Infidel. Crystals of frost on her cheeks sparkled like diamonds.
“My shadow?” Infidel asked, walking toward the bar.
“Stagger,” said Aurora. “I never see you without him hang-dogging behind.”
“Stagger’s dead,” said Infidel, placing the sack onto the bar. There was no emotion as she spoke the words.
“Oh,” said Aurora. She shook her head slowly. “I’ll miss him. Most drunks think they’re funny and charming. He really was, sometimes.”
“He was more than just a drunk,” said Infidel.
“No offense,” said Aurora, in a tone that sounded as if she had, indeed, meant no offense.
Infidel looked directly into Aurora’s eyes. She knew about Aurora’s threat to sell my body for meat; Aurora probably knew she knew. Of course, Aurora was just the enforcer. If Infidel had come here looking for revenge, she’d be looking for the woman who really called the shots.
“I need to see the Black Swan,” said Infidel.
Aurora crossed her arms, her biceps bulging beneath the walrus leather. She and Infidel had never lit into one another; Infidel probably had an edge, but Aurora wasn’t going to be a pushover. Her strength was supplemented by a formidable array of ice magic; for a tropical town, Commonground has a surprising number of residents who’ve lost limbs to frostbite. “The Black Swan has a busy schedule,” Aurora said. “I’ll see if I can work you into her calendar.”
“I need to see her now,” said Infidel.
Aurora shook her head. “She’ll see you when she wants to see you.”
“She’ll want to see me now,” said Infidel, pulling the canvas away from the dragon skull. All the people at the poker table suddenly placed their cards face down and stared at the bar. Whatever stakes they were playing for, a dragon skull would trump it.
The ice-ogress let loose an appreciative whistle as she eyed the priceless object. “The lower jaw and everything,” she said, reaching out to touch it.
Infidel caught her by the wrist. Aurora tried to pull back, but Infidel held her arm immobile. I had my answer as to who was strongest. Then Aurora grinned, and Infidel grimaced as her whole arm turned blue.
“Hold me too long and you’ll lose those fingers,” said Aurora, coolly.
“No one touches the skull but me and the Black Swan,” Infidel said, through chattering teeth.
Aurora nodded. Infidel released her wrist.
“Given the nature of this transaction, I’ll see if the boss is available,” said Aurora, drawing her arm back. Infidel rubbed her frosted fingers as the ice-ogress vanished behind a red silk curtain at one end of the bar.
I sincerely hoped the Black Swan wasn’t available. Whatever Infidel was planning to do, it couldn’t be good.
As Infidel waited, a tall man in chain mail peeled away from the shadows in the far corner. He was broad- shouldered, his hair cropped short, his face rugged, probably handsome once, before his nose had been broken one too many times. His proboscis perched over his lips like a scaly red vulture. His hands were large and rough, his knuckles thick with calluses. I’d never seen him before. Perhaps this was some new enforcer that the Black Swan had hired, though more likely he was employed by one of the clients as private muscle. The man’s gaze kept darting between the dragon skull and Infidel’s bosom, accentuated as it was by the sarong.
“That’s a mighty expensive thing for a little lady to be carrying,” Vulture-nose said, easing up to the bar. “Seems like you could use a little security.”
There was a commotion at the poker table. Everyone was standing up and stuffing their chips into their pockets. One by one, they bolted for the door.
Infidel gave him a sideways glance, and said, with remarkable restraint, “Go away.”
The big fellow grinned. “Aw, don’t be like that. For a pretty gal like yourself, I wouldn’t have to work for money. We could work out things out in trade. You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”
To demonstrate what he had in mind, the doomed man placed one of his meaty paws on the small of Infidel’s bare back. His hand was nearly as large as her slender waist as he began to gently rub her.
It’s easy to rub Infidel the wrong way.
When Aurora poked her head back into the room a second later, Infidel was in exactly the same pose as when she’d left. Above her was a hole about a yard across. Sunlight filtered down. A naked man in the room directly above sat up in his bed, looking up at the hole that had suddenly appeared in his ceiling. He looked down at the matching hole in the floor. He rubbed his eyes, perhaps not certain if he was awake. A single boot tumbled from the sky, landing with a thump on the floor next to Infidel.
“Some guy knocked a hole in your ceiling,” she said. “You should be more careful who you let in this joint.”
Aurora grimaced. “The Black Swan will see you now.”
The salon was dark save for a red glow from the glass window of the cast iron stove. A ceramic crock of potpourri simmered on the stove, filling the room with a cloying floral perfume and a level of humidity worse than anything out in the jungle. Despite the heat, the Black Swan had a shawl of black feathers draped across her silk dress; save for its ebony hue her gown looked like something she might have worn at her wedding. Like a bride, a lace veil concealed her face. Her hands were wrinkled claws, speckled with dark brown liver spots, her long nails painted to match her wardrobe.
In a city of outlaws who would rob their own grandmother, the rise of the Black Swan as its most powerful denizen was something of a mystery. It seemed improbable that this frail old woman commanded the respect of ogres and half-seeds, but Aurora kept her head bowed as she approached the leather couch where the Black Swan lounged and said, in a reverent hush, “Madam, Infidel has come to discuss a matter of commerce.”
“Thank you, Aurora,” said the Black Swan. Her scratchy, dry voice made me imagine that, should she cough, dust would come out.
The old woman turned her head toward Infidel, then motioned her to have a seat on the padded leather chair across from the couch. As Infidel sat down, the Black Swan said, “Aurora informs me your lover has passed away.”
“He wasn’t my lover,” said Infidel, somewhat over-emphatically, I thought.
“I see. I had assumed-”
“You assumed wrong,” Infidel snapped. “Stagger was my friend. With the life I’ve led, I needed a friend more than I ever needed a lover.”
“Ah, friendship,” said the Black Swan. “It’s a commodity I find sorely overrated. You cannot pay someone to be your friend; they may pretend to be so, but you would always know the truth. In my experience, if a thing cannot be purchased, it has no true value.”
“Or it may have the greatest value of all,” said Infidel.
“Your naivete is charming.” The Black Swan shifted on her couch. A handful of downy black feathers drifted to the floor. “Though, perhaps I’ve underestimated your judgment if you didn’t take that old drunkard as a lover. You must have known that when the desire for alcohol gripped him, he would have gladly walked over any of his so-called friends to reach a bottle. Even you, my dear.”
If I’d still had teeth, I would have ground them.
Infidel pressed her lips together. I was surprised at how calm she seemed. She said, “I haven’t come to discuss my personal life. I’ve come to pay off Stagger’s debts.”
The Black Swan tilted her head. “This is most honorable of you.”
“Honor has nothing to do with it,” said Infidel. “I want to clear the balance sheets once and for all. I know you think of Stagger and me as a team; I don’t want the money he owed you to influence any business we may undertake.”
The Black Swan nodded. “The skull will cover Stagger’s debt, and more. I will arrange an auction. Aurora
