Aleatha would be smiling at the human slave who was handing her into the carriage.
Aleatha’s smile was perfectly ladylike-eyes cast down as was proper, her face almost hidden by her wide-brimmed, rose-trimmed hat- her sister could never fault her. But Calandra, watching from the upstairs window, was familiar with Aleatha’s tricks. Her eyelids might be lowered, but the purple eyes weren’t and flashed beneath the long black lashes. The full lips would be parted slightly, the tongue moving slowly against the upper lip to keep it continually moist. The human slave was tall and well muscled from hard labor. His chest was bare in the midcycle heat. He was clad in the tight-fitting leather pants humans favored. Calandra saw his smile flash in return, saw him take an inordinate amount of time helping her sister into the carriage, saw her sister manage to brush against the man’s body as she stepped inside. Aleatha’s gloved hand even lingered for a moment on the slave’s! Then she had the brazen nerve to lean slightly out of the carriage, her hat brim uptilted, and wave at Calandra!
The slave, following Aleatha’s gaze, suddenly remembered his duty and hastened to take up his position. The carriage was made of the leaves of the benthan tree, woven to form a round basket open at the front end. The top of the basket was held in the grip of several drivehands attached to a strong rope running from Aleatha’s father’s house down into the jungle. Prodded from their drowsy, constant lethargy, the drivehands crawled up the rope, pulling the carriage to the house. Allowed to drift back into slumber, the drivehands would slide down the rope, bringing the carriage to a junction, where Aleatha would transfer to another carriage whose drivehands would carry her to her destination.
The slave, pushing the carriage, started it on its way and Calandra watched her sister-green skirts fluttering in the wind- swoop down into the lush jungle vegetation.
Calandra smiled disdainfully at the slave, who was lounging at his post, gazing admiringly after the carriage. What fools these humans are. They don’t even know when they’re being teased. Aleatha was wild, but at least her dalliances were with men of her own kind. She flirted with humans because it was enjoyable to watch their brutish reactions. Aleatha, like her older sister, would sooner let the family dog kiss her as she would a human.
Paithan was another story. Settling down to her work, Calandra decided she would send the scullery maid to work in the boltarch shop.
Leaning back in the carriage, enjoying the cool wind blowing against her face as she descended rapidly through the trees, Aleatha foresaw regaling a certain person at Lord Durndrun’s with her tale of arousing the human slave’s passion. Of course, her story would be told from a slightly different angle.
“I swear to you. My Lord, that his great hand closed over mine until I thought he would crush it, and then the beast had the nerve to press his sweat-covered body up against me!”
“Dreadful!” Lord Someone would say, his pale elven face flushed with indignation … or was it with the thought of bodies pressing together. He would lean nearer. “What did you do?”
“I ignored him, of course. That’s the best way to handle the brutes, besides the lash, that is. But, of course, I couldn’t beat him, could I?” –
“No, but I could!” the lord would cry gallantly. “Oh, Thea, you know you tease the slaves to distraction.” Aleatha gave a slight start. Where had that disturbing voice come from? An imagined Paithan . . . invading her reverie. Catching hold of her hat that was about to be whisked off her head by the breeze, Aleatha made a mental note to make certain her brother was off playing the fool somewhere else before she began relating her enticing little story. Paithan was a good fellow and wouldn’t deliberately ruin his sister’s fun, but he was simply too guileless to live-The carriage reached the end of its rope, arriving at the junction. Another human slave-an ugly one, Aleatha didn’t bother with him-handed her out.
“Lord Durndrun’s,” she informed him coolly, and the slave helped her into one of several carriages waiting at the junction, each attached to a rope that headed off into a different part of the jungle. The slave gave the drivehands a prod, they flapped to life, and the carriage sailed off into the gradually darkening shadows, carrying its passenger down deeper into the city of Equilan.