Legends of Belariath
Celinda
The commons of the Lonely Inn were rather crowded. Coarse laughter from drunkards, wanton moans from some booths, and the faint clash of steel coming from outside formed a din that echoed around the room. But one was silent. Robed and hooded in black, he sat in a dark corner of the inn, not hearing the noise, nor seeing the crowds...his hidden eyes were fixed on one person only.
The slender girl with the inn collar around her neck seemed to be a young human at first, but something about her movements, her behavior, marked her as a nymph to those who knew what to look for. Moving fast to evade the groping hands of customers, she quickly and efficiently served whatever drink or food was asked for, seeming to breathe a small sigh of relief every time a patron dismissed her without demanding more intimate services. She seemed slightly out of place in such a rude place. There was a sense of innocence about her that had not been breached by the abuse the stranger knew she must have suffered.
Her blue eyes peeked out shyly from under her long eyelashes as she moved from table to table. Her skin was very clear and bright—almost snow-white. Her curves were rather petite, but firm and perfectly rounded, well accentuated by the revealing clothes she wore.
“Sir?”
The stranger started and tore his gaze away from the nymph, silently cursing himself for letting his guard down. As he saw the man before him, however, he relaxed. It was a rather large human clad in rusty chain mail. He had a scruffy beard and an eye patch, and generally had the looks of a ruffian about him, though there was an air of some intelligence about him.
“Ah, Kergan. Be seated,” said the stranger. His voice was monotonous and emotionless, yet Kergan shivered slightly. He had heard terrible rumors about this man, but didn’t know how many of them were true. Nor did he wish to. Giving what he judged to be a polite nod, he sat down at the table, trying not to look too tense.
“Well then... I believe you owned that nymph once?”
“I... wouldn’t put it that way. The band I led at the time captured her once. We did not hold her for long.”
“I see... but you have made thorough research as to her origins and her later course, as I asked you to?”
“Of course sir. I had to pull on everything my sources could give me, I might add.”
“And those sources towards which I directed you. Come then, let me hear your story.”
Kergan took a deep breath, forcing himself not to sweat. “Yes sir... well, her name is Celinda. Her youth—if you might call it that—was pretty normal for a nymph, as I understand. Grew up with her sisters in the forest, helping in preserving the gardens, and so on. I believe she learned the healing arts to be able to help people, or something like that.”
“Yes, all that does sound pretty standard of her kind. However, one notable thing about nymphs is that they usually do not see the point of clothing, and wear it only so as not to discomfort others. Why then does she blush every time her cleavage becomes more open to inspection when she bends?”
“Ah, back in the forests no one was looking at her like these fellows do, I’ll wager,” said Kergan with a chuckle. It was a nervous sound, which quickly died down. “Anyway... her fault, apparently, was curiosity. She kept on wandering nearer to the forest’s edge despite the warning of her sisters... and so it was that we found her.”
Kergan glanced away briefly, clearing his throat before continuing.
“The lads... well you can imagine what they—what we did with her. Next morning we sold her to a slave trader we met.”
“Next morning already? I would have thought you people would have been interested in... sampling her charms further.”
The stranger moved slightly as he said this, and for a brief while, the light glinted off the eyes inside the hood. Kergan shivered as he saw that gray glint... it was a light of pure malice and cruelty.
“I... w-well the lads certainly wanted to, sir. But I was afraid their... recklessness would have damaged her too much to be of value anymore.” It was clear that Kergan was not telling everything. The stranger was surprised. He would not have thought the bandit to be the sentimental kind. Then again, he knew that the roughest people were sometimes stricken when seeing someone as pure as the nymph. Not him, of course.
“And the trader? What did he do?”
“Well, he and his wife figured Celinda would fetch a higher price if she was trained as a pleasure slave. You can imagine that she was rather reluctant to learn, even though her training was relatively gentle compared to her night with the lads. Well, eventually, the trader got fed up with her shyness and sold her to the next place needing a slave...”
“...Which happened to be this inn. I see. And no one attempted to buy her again?”
“Oh, but yes. She was sold back and forth several times, to owners of varying... lenience. Her worst time was certainly with the Drow Sha-Ka. But she also had friends to support her. In fact... I even heard that she and another inn slave called Elspeth are very much in love with each other.” Kergan grinned a little, but it soon turned into a rather nervous grimace before fading completely. He cleared his throat “Well... that’s pretty much it.”
The stranger nodded slowly before turning his gaze onto Celinda again. He watched her graceful, innocent movements, her shy blues eyes, heard her soft whimpers as evil-looking patrons beckoned her nearer, and her sighs of relief as they asked for no more than a drink...
Kergan cleared his throat again. “Sir?”
The stranger continued to watch in silence for a while. Then, he spoke in a voice even more expressionless than before.
“Tell me, Kergan... If I did not exist and you had enough money... would you buy her?”
Kergan shifted uncomfortably in his seat before replying “No sir.”
“Why not? She is most... exquisite, no?”
Kergan tensed a little, then gaze a shrug. “Oh what’s the point of lying... it’s not as though I imagine you to have a very high opinion of me, anyway. The simple matter is that simply looking at that girl breaks my heart, and I regret the day we ever found her. I know there is not much I can do for her; therefore I will not come back to this place.”
“Hmm... and again, if I did not exist... how do you think her life would continue?”
Kergan shrugged. “I know she once wanted to free both herself and Elspeth, and then go back to her home with her. But the inn will never sell Elspeth. So I don’t know... maybe she’d free herself and stay here most of the time, or she’d stay an inn slave for Elspeth’s sake... Sir, with all due respect... I did what I was asked to do, so could we just get this over with?”
The stranger kept looking at Celinda, saying nothing. After a long while, he suddenly reached under the table and tossed a purse towards the bandit. Kergan caught it, counted the coins inside, and arched his eyebrows.
“I... though we had agreed on fifty?”
“You are against receiving a bonus?”
“N-No Sir!”
Kergan stared in amazement. This sort of generosity did not fit in with what he had heard about the stranger at all. Still, he was not one to look a gift horse into the mouth.
“Thank you sir... shall I see about purchasing her, then?”
The stranger never took his eyes from Celinda. After a while, he shook his head.
“Ah...you prefer to do it yourself, then?”
“No.”
Kergan blinked. There seemed to be something odd that had crept into the emotionless voice. “Sir, might I ask— ”
“You may. But do not expect an answer from me.”
With that, the black-robed figure rose, and left the inn at a surprisingly fast pace.
Kergan stared after him. He had seen the stranger’s gray eyes glint once more at his departure.
But this time it hadn’t been the glint of cruelty.
He could have sworn it had been the glint of tears.