Part 2
Marie came in late one evening when she should have been behind the bar. Hugo was angry with her as soon as he saw her, but she looked very pretty that night. Marie's long blonde hair tumbled down the sides of her face and sweat glistened upon her, but the effect was to make her look even more healthy than usual. She had been breathing heavily as if running. The whole bar had been quiet and dull then suddenly the door opened and the brightness of youth came in. She wore a revealing dress, short up the legs, low cut on the breast.
Hugo's anger erupted immediately, "Ah here comes the girl who couldn't keep her job. Where were you this evening? We needed you."
Harassed though she may look the girl bit back without pause taking each new threat on as if it were an attack on her personal sanctity. "You don't look as if you're very busy to me. It looks as if you and Danella have managed just fine without me."
Then a change in her approach came, perhaps she reminded herself that she needed Hugo on her side. She began to crawl to him in a way that Danella had not seen before from her. "Listen Hugo, I'm in trouble. Gorge is following me. He says I'm not giving him his cut and he wants it. So I ran away from him. I think he's after me. Do you think you could do me a favour. If he comes here don't let him see me." Marie had lowered her voice now so the customers could not hear all she said, but Danella was able to hear up to that point. She wondered who this Gorge was and what she meant by his cut.
Danella went on serving the customers drinks. There was little to do this evening. Most customers were not drinking fast and mostly she just waited and watched. She wished Marie would come and join her at the bar. Then at least she would have someone to talk to. All evening there had been only her. Hugo was not worthy of talking to much. He was taciturn and surly and it was not worth too much effort to get him to speak. He had a strong sense of humour nonetheless and there were moments when he could be funny, but conversation was deadening. She would rather have cuddled up to him in bed. He would be easier to get on with there.
Some of the customers had been more enlightening. They made more of an effort to chat to her. She could see the lust behind their eyes. She spoke civilly to them and did not mind when they honoured her. Some made very obvious invitations to her which she knew she would satisfy if she continued working her much longer. At this time she was working and she was not at all sure that Hugo would let her stay here if she invited the customers to sleep with her. She had been here only a few days and did not wish to have to move on yet.
She was in no hurry to make love to all of Hugo's customers, for some of them were old and unattractive, and some of them drank too much beer, which showed on their stomachs, which she found distasteful until she got used to it. The Prancirian soldiers in Dalos had been fit and in good physical shape except for some who had minor wounds or were battle weary. In her homeland of Pirion all men were fit and healthy and few had a tendency to being overweight.
Now that she had broken free from Valery's hospitality she was, for the time being, having to work for a living like the ordinary Prancirians. If she wanted to travel amongst them and see how they lived and learn to understand them better she must immerse herself for a short while at least in their way of life. Working here meant staying behind the bar all evening and during lunchtime. She could not take time off to indulge her own regular need for sexual relaxation, or to read her books. She was finding the observations of these people interesting, making new acquaintances and admirers, but already there were periods of boredom. She would soon miss the sparkling and erotic companionship of her Dumisian group, and the camaraderie of the Priestesses. 'Normal' work would soon inevitably become much duller than the physically rewarding lifestyle she had followed all her adult life.
Marie was demanding something from Hugo, but Danella couldn't tell what. Then he seemed to suggest something else to which Marie responded with sudden flashing anger. She seemed visibly to control her anger after that spark. Perhaps she had thought it through, whatever it was. There was a sense of Marie recognising that she had to make a deal or the man she was afraid of would come and take her away. Danella was guessing, but would surely find confirmation if she were able to talk to Marie. Hugo seemed to persuade her to come inside. She nodded acceptance. They both stood up and Hugo led her inside behind the bar and up the stairs towards the rooms. It looked as if Marie might be staying in the inn again to get away from the man she feared. Danella could imagine what condition Hugo had set on her in return for his protection.
The evening remained quiet as Danella was left to run the bar on her own for a while. During the quiet daytime that was often the case, but in the evening it was unusual that she should be left for so long on her own. What if some of the customers should become rowdy.
After Hugo and Marie had been upstairs for at least half an hour the door opened and another customer came in. A hush fell upon some of the customers as they turned to see who it was. Others who had not shown an interest in the man who stood boldly and confidently in the doorway fell silent momentarily because the others did. Then the conversations began again. She sensed that those who knew this man were doing their best to ignore him, to pretend he was not standing in their public bar.
Danella looked at him at first because he was eye catching. Even if she had not been responsible for the bar at this moment she would have looked at him. One glance was enough to make her look twice. One of those moments of intuitive knowledge occurred. She knew he was strongly attractive even as she turned to look. What made her mind know this without having viewed his face she could not know, but she was drawn to it. The man was tall, dark, powerfully built and highly attractive. He had the physical presence, and doubtless the strength of the strongest soldiers. He was dressed in the business clothes of the Vanmarians, an expensive looking suit of black, and shining black shoes to match. He reminded her particularly of Valery and of Ravelleon, a powerful and confident figure in his own world she did not doubt. Hardly noticed behind him were two similarly dressed men of more ordinary proportions and looks, but doubtless his strongmen.
Intuitively she suspected that this must be the man Gorge, whom Marie had been trying to get away from. The reaction of some of the regular customers seemed to give that away. Danella was not usually afraid of men, but the swagger and confident attitude betrayed by this one reminded her of the rape suffered at the hands of conquering soldiers and she feared that this one was ruthless. He was attractive but the attitude of disdain supported by his manner made her very wary, a feeling obviously shared by those who knew him.
"I'm looking for a young lady, quite a popular girl, goes by the name of Marie," he said out loud into the quietness. His demand was directed towards no one in particular, but to all. "Where is she?"
No one answered. Who's business was it anyway? Not theirs, but Marie was popular with them and they would not wish to cause trouble for her.
"I said, where is she?" he said insistently. He paused, and said, "and where's that little man Hugo? I bet he knows where she is. Where is she? You've got tongues haven't you. Where is she?" Gorge looked around, surveying the faces he knew. "Now Albert," he spoke to an older man, "you know me. You know you should always tell me what I want to know. Where is Marie. I bet she's been here hasn't she? She used to live here, right, and she works here?"
"We don't want any trouble," said Albert, bravely.
"I want to know where Hugo is then. Where is he?"
"In," said Danella. It seemed she should try to appease this man in some way before he became very angry. "I don't know what it is which makes you search for Marie, but I will fetch Hugo for you if you wish." She avoided admitting that Marie was here, it seemed safer to calm the man by appearing to co-operate, but to imply that she was not here.
"Yes, if my 'friends' here," he sneered, "won't help me than I suppose it will have to be Hugo. Where is he hiding her?"
This man was dangerous. It emanated from him like an unconscious signal. Nobody in the bar was relaxed. Danella felt the pounding of blood in her temples as she had done when the soldiers had come charging up the streets of Dalos on horses and banging on the doors of the dormitory. Surely she was not under physical threat but she felt it for the sake of Marie whom she already cared for, and even for poor Hugo who would have to deal with this powerfully attractive and yet so hateful man.
She knew nothing of the man but his mere appearance in the bar told her much of what she needed to know. He was obviously a power to be reckoned with in this neighbourhood. The respect of fear on the faces of the locals was evident. He seemed to need no pretence of appearing reasonable and friendly. His power was assured anyway. Perhaps these people did not count to him. They did not need to be courted. Surely this man was not on the side of the law. The strong men who supported him were not policemen or soldiers. She guessed he was a local criminal, a powerful one. Crime was rare and unnecessary in her own land but she knew that this competitive and hard society provided ample incentive and pressure on some people to break the rules laid down by the establishment.
She wondered again what Marie had done, or perhaps not done to cause this man's anger. Was she involved in some way in his crimes. She had appeared friendly and honest enough to Danella. Presumably Gorge had at least been Marie's landlord until tonight. Perhaps she had been unable to pay her due rent. Or perhaps she had sought to deny him the comforts that she had previously denied to Hugo.
"Please sir," she said, being as respectful in the Prancirian manner as she could to calm him, "you seem angered. Is it by something Marie has done to you?"
Gorge looked at her fully for the first time, his eyes blazed with barely surpressed condescension. She felt his handsomeness, but his whole being was tarnished by a most barbaric arrogance. Only a very ignorant man would behave in this way. But she had seen arrogance before in the soldiers who had taken pleasure in the fear of others in Dalos. Ravelleon had had arrogance in a more refined and measured form, but similarly blind until she had begun to unlock it. But that work had been unfinished. The values of his world had caused him to reject her in the only way that he knew.
She had also seen arrogance in Valery. His power and wealth had blinded him to the realities of his world, as she saw it. His arrogance had been channelled within the conventional bounds of economic and legal acceptability, despite the damage to others he could achieve by it, and in person it had been a useful motivation which allowed him to ignore the 'moral' restrictions of Vanmar and to explore a more real and open sexuality.
