Her hair somehow smelled of fresh apples.
After a long moment, she untangled from him and pulled the rest of her clothes on.
"I'll be up later," Skharr grumbled and returned to the bed. "Set the latch when you leave."
"Of course, my lo—" She paused before she completed the offending word, smiled, and pushed a few strands of her hair away from her face. "Of course, Skharr."
Ingaret moved to the door and set the latch to lock before she closed it behind her.
The barbarian shook his head and took a deep breath as his fingers traced the scars on his arm.
"I need a fucking cold bath," he muttered, rolled his shoulders, and grimaced when his muscles pulled stiffly, the result of remaining motionless for the whole night. "Maybe a whore if this must go on too much longer." A nod and a sigh followed that gloomy disclaimer of his words to Ingaret. Horse couldn’t offer any insight given that he couldn’t hear him from the stable, but it helped to hear his voice. "Or I could become a eunuch."
He shuddered at the thought, pushed from the bed again, and took a deep breath.
"Whore it is."
The docks were busy, even this early in the morning. Wagons drawn by teams of horses or oxen carried heavy loads. New ships sailed in once the chain was lowered at the entrance to the port and sailors shouted orders, sang foreign songs, and worked in unison.
There was enough noise and enough people to cover those who weren't necessarily working. It was calming to watch them. Carel had learned that seeing others work was quite relaxing, especially when he didn't need to do so himself.
The Swilling Mermaid was one of the few places where they could find the space to loiter without having the city guard harass them, and he was not in the mood to move yet. He was waiting for someone in particular and he would not leave until he saw them.
"What will we do today, Carel?"
He turned to look at the young man seated beside him—barely out of his teens with only a hint of a beard visible on his young face. The older man liked to think that Yurunn was a little simple, but the truth was that he had followed him since they were children and it seemed the habit was unlikely to change now that they were grown.
Still, it wasn’t a hardship and certainly had advantages. His companion had grown considerably larger since their younger years and had become quite the fighter in his own right. He was well able to keep his friend safe while Carel managed the various schemes that kept them in business.
They both earned well from it, which meant theirs was an equal partnership.
"We are waiting for that cock-sucking whore to leave the Mermaid. According to the innkeeper, she spends the night there but leaves every morning without an escort."
"We going to jump her, then?"
"No. He says she has no escort but we can't be sure of it. If he’s wrong, we'll need to murder them before we can attend to the bitch."
He folded his arms in front of his chest. It was still early morning and he assumed both the bitch and her possible escort had some kind of employment. They had to leave sometime—or perhaps eventually was more appropriate.
The door to the inn opened and he forced himself to not react when he saw who was leaving.
She wasn't the tallest, but her voluptuous form was difficult to miss as well as the mess of brown curls that poured from her head.
"We going to jump her?"
"For the last time, no—and stop staring, you dolt," Carel snapped and averted his gaze.
"I’m not a dolt."
"I know. I didn't mean that. But I want her back and I can't take her if the big fucker is waiting in the shadows like last time."
Yurunn nodded, looked away quickly, and seemed entirely too shifty about it. Thankfully, the woman paid no attention to the people around her as she drew a shawl over her shoulders, shook her head at two young boys who bolted across her path, and continued with a smile.
"When we going to jump her?"
He managed to not snap at the man again. Perhaps he was a little thick in the head after all, although he seemed a little too in love with Ingaret to care about it.
Nothing would stop them from taking her back as long as the younger man played his part.
"We'll get the slut," he muttered and patted his companion on the shoulder. "But first, we need to take care of her protector. Once he has been eliminated, we can take as long as we want to punish her for trying to leave us, do you understand that? We'll drag her back into our arms."
Yurunn nodded and drew a deep breath. Seeing her again was painful for the large, dull man and Carel intended to use that. The idiot who had protected her would require skill and strength to defeat him, but he had no doubt that his friend would be able to fulfill that part of the task.
"Come on, now. The big one is still inside and we'll pay him a visit. Hopefully, he'll be asleep in bed, which will give us more time to deal with him and the element of surprise. Lessons must be learned."
"Lessons," Yurunn rumbled menacingly.
"And you'll be the teacher. Come on, then. We have someone to beat and possibly kill. But you let me know first if you have a mind to kill him."
"Not sure yet."
The man had a simple mind and one that was easily focused as they moved inside the Swilling Mermaid. A few coins in the right hands had revealed where the barbarian laid his head, and the innkeeper was too busy to stop them from slipping away from the main room. The stairs that led to the rooms above the inn had no guard this early in the morning.
Nothing hindered their cautious but determined advance up the steps and toward the room where they would find their quarry.
Yurunn pushed tentatively on the door. "Latch is down."
"I guess we'll have to break it." Carel didn’t bother to lower his voice to a whisper as the thin walls wouldn't prevent the man inside from hearing them. "Any time you feel comfortable, my f—"
His voice cut off when wood splintered. A massive hand extended through the hole, grasped him by the collar, and dragged him into the door.
He struggled to free himself but the sound of wood breaking again preceded a pain that erupted across his head and neck. Somewhat dazed, he looked around and realized that he was now inside the room instead of in the hallway outside.
With a groan of pain, he grimaced and tried to focus. It seemed impossible to see anything but flashes of movement despite the illumination provided by the streak of light that seeped through the hole in the door. He wondered if being dragged through had addled his brain somewhat.
Yurunn remained outside. The dimwit had no idea what was happening and peered into the hole with a bewildered expression.
"Get in here, you fucking moron!" Carel shouted and scowled when blood seeped from a wound on his forehead and trickled down his face.
"Yes," a deep voice ordered and the hand tightened on his collar. "Get in here!"
Wood splintered again and there wasn't much left of the door once the young man entered. Light now streamed in and the two men stared at the hulking mass of a barbarian who stood over them.
The younger man recovered quickly—although he did have the advantage of not being hauled bodily through a door. He wasn't a small man and he uttered a roar of anger as he lunged into their foe. His fist lashed out, caught the warrior by surprise, and thrust him back a couple of steps and into one of the walls hard enough to make it feel like the whole building shook.