The brothel’s caravan was an impressive sight. Twelve tarns stood before the building, each pulled by two arems. The first six tarns were brightly painted, their sides bearing Rozea’s name. The sturdy covers were trimmed with matching colors. The last six were plainer and servants hovered around them, the women waiting beside one of the vehicles, the men adding a few sacks and boxes to another.
Brand and Tide made appreciative noises, their breath misting in the air. They started toward the fourth cart with Emerahl and three other girls. An hour before, waiting in the dance hall, they had been asked to form groups of six, then Rozea had selected cart numbers for them by taking marked tokens out of a bag.
It didn’t matter. Emerahl didn’t intend to return. She planned to slip away from the caravan as soon as she was free of the city.
She resisted the temptation to run her fingers over the hem of her sleeve. Tucked into it were small nuggets, each a compressed lump of formtane. Taken in this form the drug took effect slowly and lasted about an hour.
It was not an unheard-of drug in Porin. The usual method of taking it was as a tea or burned in a pipe. It produced a blissful calm, quashed nausea, and in strong quantities put one to sleep.
Sleep wasn’t enough for Emerahl. She needed it to render her unconscious.
The knot in her stomach tightened as she considered the risk she was taking. If this didn’t work - if the priest who could read minds was watching at the city gates, noticed that he couldn’t read the mind of one of the whores, decided to investigate, thought it suspicious that she had drugged herself into unconsciousness, and held them back until she woke up - then her unnaturally long life was about to end.
To make her taking of the drug less suspicious, she had prepared several nuggets of formtane. These she would give to the other girls. They were a weaker dose, so they would only experience the delicious calming effects. A tarn full of unconscious women was bound to raise suspicion rather than avoid it.
Emerahl was the last to climb into the tarn. They were all dressed in heavy tawls and carrying blankets. The tarn covers would protect them from rain, but not from cold. Winter was far from over, and would grow harsher as they travelled northward.
It was cramped inside, with six women squeezed onto the hard bench seats.
“They looked roomier from the outside,” Brand muttered. “Watch where you put your shoes, Star.”
“It smells like smoked ner,” Charity complained.
“I doubt Rozea bought them new.” Bird kicked her heels backward, making a solid thud. “There’s something under the seat.”
Emerahl peered under the seat opposite. “Boxes. I think some of our supplies are in here. Our seats are closer together than they need to be. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are compartments behind them.”
“Why would there be?” Tide asked. “Is Rozea too stingy to buy enough tarns?”
“No,” Brand said. “I bet they’re secret compartments to store things, just in case we get robbed.”
The others stilled and looked at her.
“Anyone who robs us will think the supply carts are all we have,” Brand explained. “If they look in here they’ll see us, and nothing else.”
“Nobody’s going to rob us,” Star declared. “We’ll be with the army.”
“But we might fall behind,” Bird said in a small voice. “Or even be separated.”
“We won’t,” Star assured her. “Rozea won’t let us.”
A high-pitched whistle sounded outside. The girls exchanged nervous glances, and all remained silent until the tarn jerked into movement.
“Too late to change your minds now,” Tide murmured.
“We could all jump out and run back inside,” Charity suggested half-heartedly.
Emerahl snorted. “Rozea would send someone in to drag you back. I thought everyone but me was eager to set out on this glorious adventure.”
The other girls shrugged.
“You don’t want to go, Jade?” Star asked. “Why not?”
Emerahl looked away. “I think robbers will be the least of our problems. It’s the soldiers we’ll have to watch out for. They’ll think fighting earns them a free roll with us whenever they want, and we don’t have enough of our own guards to prevent them. This is going to be rough, dirty work.”
Charity grimaced. “Let’s not talk about it any more. I’d rather delude myself that we’re going on a great adventure, during which we’ll witness great events. Events I can tell my grandchildren about.”
“Just as well grandmothers are allowed to edit out the bad parts,” Brand said, chuckling. “And embellish the good parts. The soldiers will be brave, the generals handsome, and the priests virtuous and even more handsome...”
At the mention of priests, Emerahl felt the knot in her stomach clench. She leaned past Tide and lifted the door flap. They were halfway to the gates. Her mouth went dry. She resisted the urge to reach for the formtane.
“Have you ever bedded a priest?” Tide asked Brand.
“A few.”
“I haven’t. What about you, Star? Charity?”
Star shrugged. “Once. And he wasn’t handsome. He was fat. And fast, thank Yranna.”
“Quite a few,” Charity admitted with a grin. “I think they like me for my name. They can go back to their wives and say they spent the evening in Charity work and be telling the truth.”
Brand burst out laughing. “Rozea certainly knows how to pick names. What about you, Jade?”
“Me?”
“Have you ever bedded a priest?”
Emerahl shook her head. “Never.”
“Perhaps you’ll bed your first one on this trip.”
“Perhaps.”
Brand wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “They’re supposed to be quite good at it.”
“About as good as any nationality or creed that is supposed to be good at it, I’m guessing.”
“You’re too serious, Jade - and why do you keep looking outside?”
Emerahl let the flap go. She sighed and shook her head. “Travelling makes me sick.”
Star groaned unsympathetically. “You’re not going to throw up, are you?”
Emerahl made a face. “If I do, I’ll be sure to lean in your direction.”
“You’re cranky. Here.” Tide stood up, bracing herself against the flexible cover. “Sit by the window. If you feel sick you can open the flap for some fresh air.”
“Thank you.” Emerahl managed a smile and slid across the seat. Tide sat down in the middle and patted Emerahl’s knee sympathetically.
Looking outside again, Emerahl judged they were not far from the city gates. She let the flap fall and turned to the other girls.
“I brought something,” she told them. “Something for the nausea. It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t share it.”
Brand smiled knowingly. “The formtane?”
“Formtane!” Star exclaimed. “Where’d you get that?”
“I took a little side trip to the market on the way to visit my family,” Brand told them.
Emerahl held out her left arm and eased the first of the nuggets out of her sleeve hem. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed, then began to push the next one free.
“So who wants some?”
The other girls leaned forward eagerly.
“I’ve never tried it before,” Tide admitted.
“It’s wonderful,” Charity whispered. “Time seems to slow down and you feel all light and floaty.” She accepted a nugget of formtane. “Thank you, Jade.”
