A Lady's ProgressA Lady's Progress

by
Andrew Prentis
� May 1986
"Father, can I have some money to buy some of that silk they've just brought in
from Marno?" Kallisti stood in the doorway to her father's shop, idly nibbling
at a lock of her long blonde hair. She glanced longingly at the attractively
glittering jewels in the window and display cases, sparkling in the light of the
autumnal sun sinking in the west. She sighed inwardly at the sight of all these
beautiful trinkets, but that was all she was ever able to do. Even though her
father was one of the more popular jewelers in town and was rich enough to be
able to employ capable and honest staff - an expensive commodity in Urswell
where the Dravidi temple and Thieves Guild could buy most people's honesty, the
only jewelry she possessed was a silver hair pin and a broch she fastened her
cloak with. The latter though was a clever imitation using cut glass and tin
instead of diamonds and silver.
"Isn't that the most expensive in the bazaar?" her balding father squinted at
her from behind the display case containing a stunning emerald necklace. He was
tall and thin, so thin that he was almost cadaverous - an illness from his youth
lingering for many years and ageing him prematurely so that he looked more like
the grandfather of his only daughter, fifteen year old Kallisti.
"It is the best quality. The merchant let me test it and it is so smooth you can
hardly feel it between your fingers!" she pinched her fingers together to
emphasise the point, her blue eyes large with an innocence she found useful when
dealing with her miserly father.
"I'm pleased to hear it." he grunted, refusing to look at her. She could appear
so inticing sometimes that he found it difficult to refuse her. "I'm sorry my
sweetness, but the bill for the guardsmen has just come in and I can't afford to
give you any more than your allowance." he looked genuinely sorry.
"Daddy!" Kallisti fumed. "Whenever I ask you for anything its always the same:
"Bills have just arrived...", "No customers...", "Accounts not paid...". How do
you expect me to live? That pittance you call an allowance can hardly keep me
clothed. The whores down by the harbour dress better than I do! Would you rather
I did that? How would you like to see your "Sweetness" whoring herself eh?" she
shouted. Her father glowered at her and began coughing. "Oh yes, use that old
trick and make me feel guilty about making you ill again - well it won't work
Daddy - it won't work this time!" and with a toss of her head, she left her
father's shop, the sound of his hacking cough ringing in her ears.
The breeze off the the sea carried with it a salty tang which made her nostrils
flare as she sat staring out over the Sea of Parnas to the far horizon, losing
herself in the broad sweep where the ocean met the sky. Some said there was an
island out there where the sky and sea became one, populated by women with
wings! Old sailors tales, huh!
She stretched her legs out before her, sitting on a coil of old rope at the
upwind end of the harbour, ignored by the few men about on such a beautiful day
for fishing. She looked critically at her legs and knees. They were not too
knobbly and her legs were reasonably shapely, but she wished she had just a
little more shape higher up! Her legs, she considered, were her best feature
which was why the dress she wore was a little too short for modesty. She needed
something though to attract attention to herself - her bosom would not suffice
on its own! The dress was quite an old one but she had resewn it so that there
was less shoulder and much larger armholes, making it rather more revealing.
Kallisti was distracted from the study of her knees by the sound of someone
behind her. She looked round, shielding her eyes from the sun sinking slowly
towards the lofty peaks of the Kiril Mountains away in the west beyond Urswell.
It was Tormal, a young man who had been paying her a lot of attention over the
past few months. She had been quite flattered at first but then as she got to
know him better, she found him totally bland and lacking any spark of
originality or wit. His father was a moneylender in the north of town, in the
better off sector and was due to inherit the business. His attitude towards
money was so much like her father's that it seemed as if they had been made in
the same mould.
"Hello Kallisti, what's the matter?" he smiled and sat down beside her on the
coil of rope. He smelt of roses - a very nice smell but not one a man should
have. His arm went casually around her back and she stifled a snarl at his
intrusion.
"Not a lot." she sighed, looking back out to sea. She could feel his hand
inching around her back until it came upon the edge of the armhole of her dress.
He shifted his position in an apparently innocent way so that his reach was
extended and his hand slipped into her dress and forward until it gently cupped
her right breast. With a sigh of boredom, Kallisti raised her eyes skyward to
watch a seagull ride the updraughts effortlessly.
Taking her reaction as one of encouragement, Tormal moved closer and slipped his
other hand into her dress so he could fondle both of her breasts. The seagull
suddenly dipped its wings and dived out of the sky, splashing into the water to
catch a dead fish floating on the surface. Something suddenly snapped inside
her.
"What do you think you're doing?" she turned on him, dragging his hands out of
her clothing. "How dare you touch me!" she snarled, suddenly furious. Tormal sat
aghast, his mouth gaping wide in shock - this was not the way Kallisti normally
reacted! "You're disgusting." she spat and suddenly her fist flashed out to
strike his groin bringing a squeal of pain from him and making him double over.
A frisson of excitement buzzed through her and her eyes glittered with the light
of cruel plesaure born of pent up frustration now finding release. Tormal
uncoiled himself and looked at her, still clutching his painful private parts.
"Kallisti!" he croaked as she stood up, glaring down at him balefully. With a
snarl of sadistic pleasure, her foot swung this time, crashing into the hands
trying to protect the future generations of his family, and was rewarded by a
girlish scream of pain. With a cruel laugh, Kallisti stepped over the curled up
boy and sauntered off, head held high.
One of the old men mending a fishing net a little way down the quay shook his
head as she passed him. "Get a little bit too "handy" did he?" he said with a
knowing smile. Kallisti returned him a flashing grin and tossed her hair in the
breeze, enjoying her feeling of truimph.
"Kallisti, can you come through here?" her father's voice came from outside the
door to her bedroom. After her return from the harbour, she had closeted herself
in her room along with her charcoals and parchment, sitting at her window
drawing the people and things she saw. This was a pastime she had been doing for
several years now to relieve the boredom imposed by her father's well meaning
but suffocating rules.
"Coming." she called with a sigh, breaking off from the reverie she had sunk
into. She could hear voices coming from her father's study where he worked on
the accounts and ledgers. One voice she recognised from the whining tone and her
guess was confirmed when she entered to find her father with Tormal and his
father, a heavily built dark-haired man.
"So there you are." he sneered at her menacingly. A tautness grew in her stomach
- a feeling that all was not as it should be.
"Is what Surac tells me true?" her father demanded angrily. "Did you expose
yourself to young Tormal here and when he didn't respond to your disgusting
advances, you kicked him and nearly crippled him?" Kallisti's mouth dropped open
in astonishment.
"No, I did not - he's lying!" she gasped.
"I'm not, you ask the fisherman, he saw everything." Tormal whined, his voice
hoarser than before.
"It is true, I spoke to him." Surac glowered at her.
"I didn't expose myself to him Daddy." she turned to him appealingly. "He
started touching me...'
'No more of your lies!" Surac shouted. "I want to see her punished for this.'
"Yes you are right, she must be punished." Kallisti could not believe what her
father was saying - he believed them and not her!
"Daddy no!" she wailed, grabbing hold of him. "You must believe me!" Her father
refused to meet her eyes and pulled away from her awkwardly.
"Are you going to punish her or will I have to do it?" Surac stood before her, a
dark shadow looming over her. Her father stepped away guiltily as Surac
unfastened the wide leather belt he wore.
"Oh no please Daddy..." she sobbed, turning towards him but Surac caught hold of
her arm and roughly pushed her down, bending her over her father's work table.
"Hold her." came the gruff voice from behind her as her father grasped her
wrists.
"Daddy don't let him do this to me..." she tried to catch his eye but he had
them closed and refused to look at her. There was a loud hissing swish as the
belt swung through the air...
The night was quiet. In the distance came the sound of men laughing and singing
accompanied by the occasional shill squeal of delight from a woman. That was
away nearer the harbour but out here at the edge of town, all was peaceful.
Kallisti lay face down on the bed, sobbing softly into her pillow, her buttocks,
thighs and lower back bruised and inflamed from the beating she had recieved.
What had hurt most though was her father's betrayal, not only refusing to
believe her version of the story but also assisting in her final humiliation.
The sound of someone tapping lightly on her window penetrated her misery and
brought her head up from the pillow. "Who is it?" she whispered, looking around
for something to cover her nudity.
"Suki." came the reply. Kallisti sighed and limped over to the window, opening
it to allow her tiny friend in. "I heard about what happened so I came over with
this." the short dark-haired girl showed her a flask.
"What is it.'
"A soothing ointment - very good for bruises." Suki explained. "Lie down and
I'll put it on." Kallisti did this but nearly cried out in pain as her friend's
gentle fingers massaged the cool ointment into her burning wounds. Suki's
parents were immmigrants from the north, which explained her dark olive
complexion and slanted eyes. She and Kallisti had been friends since they were
small children, the short dark Suki regarding the taller, blonde Kallisti like a
goddess.
"I can't believe what Daddy did - if Mummy were still alive they wouldn't have
been allowed to do that to me. She would have stopped them." Kallisti poured out
her grief.
"What are you going to do now?" Suki continued to massage the ointment into her
wounds.
"I'm not staying here that's for sure." she replied determinedly. "I've had
enough of living with my father, he never lets me do or have anything. I wanted
to get a job in the tavern but he wouldn't let me: "No daughter of mine is going
to work in a drinking house like some common slut." Well, I'll show him. When
I've finished he'll wish I'd never been born!'
"Well well, if it isn't Kallisti. Recovered from your indisposition yet?" one of
her father's more wealthy friends met her in the bazaar some days later.
"Yes thank you Master James." she replied sweetly, smiling and fluttering her
eyelashes at him. He smiled back, appreciating the view he received down the
front of her dress as she leaned toward him.
"What can I do for you then?" he stepped towards her. Kallisti stood her ground
and inclined her head to one side. No matter how cool she appeared on the
outside, her stomach churned with apprehension.
"Well I was hoping I could do something for you." Nervously she played with the
pearl pendant she had "borrowed" from her father's stock as the man looked at
her again, a glint of interest in his eye.
"What exactly were you thinking of?" he asked, lowering his voice.
"Oh I'm sure you can think of something. I'll only need a little
renumeration..." she pinched her fingers together and winked at him. The man
grinned broadly and held out his hand to her.
"I think that can easily be arranged." he replied, guiding her away from the
bazaar.
"Kallisti, where are you getting these things from?" her father gestured vaguely
at the short silky dress she wore.
"I bought it." she replied offhandedly. Ever since the day of her beating
several weeks before, the relationship between her and her father had grown more
and more distant, much to his obvious discomfort.
"And where did you get the money from?" he inclined his head curiously.
"It was given to me.'
"Given? By whom?" he said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Oh, friends and people." she dismissed the question airily but inside she was
tensing up, having realised that this would be the confrontation she had
expected for some time.
"Friends? What for? Kallisti, tell me the truth.'
"Truth? You don't know the meaning of the word!" she spat suddenly, her long
buried fury breaking through. "If you really want to know where I got the money
from, I got it from your friends. I let them see what you've been dying to see
for the past few years and they showed me their appreciation... They've been
laughing at you behind your back for weeks!'
"You whore!" her father bellowed, his eyes blazing with anger. Stepping forward
he swung his hand to hit her but she caught it and twisted savagely bringing
forth a cry of pain. Releasing him, she stepped back out fo his reach. He stared
at her in horror. "What have you become? How could you do this? What would your
mother have said?'
"Don't bring her into this - its all down to you. If you'd believed me then
nothing would have happened.'
"How dare you... OUT - I'll not have you under this roof a moment longer. Get
out, whore. Earn your living on the streets where you belong! You're no longer
my daughter - Kallisti is dead as of this moment. Get OUT!" he was almost
screaming at the end. With her head held high, she turned and went to her room
to collect her things.
"So how is life out on your own?" Suki asked, helping herself to an apple from
the bag she had brought. They sat in the grass at the top of the cliffs to the
south of Urswell where nobody would see them. In the months since Kallisti had
been thrown out by her father, Suki's parents had forbidden her to associate
with her but they still met up sometimes in secret. The spring sunshine had
prompted them to make this little excursion, now the ravages of winter were far
behind them.
"Its okay." Kallisti sighed, biting into her apple. She had changed quite a bit
since she had left home. Her hair was elaborately curled and she now almost
permanently wore make-up to conceal the shadows under her eyes as well as the
sickly pallor of someone not eating regularly. It also had to conceal some of
the bruises she recieved from her clients who were much less gentle nowadays
than those when she first started in the business.
"Why don't you find yourself a proper job?" Suki saw through her act.
"What can I do? Father made sure I was pretty incapable of doing anything that
could get me a job - apart from this one that is." Kallisti sighed, tossing the
apple core over the edge of the cliff and reaching for another.
"You can read and write - and draw. There's not many people who can do that. I
heard a rumour that Triad Gall was looking for an assistant.'
"Triad Gall? But he's the top Dravidi man on the town council! How could I work
for him? The God of Thieves couldn't ask for a better follower than Triad Gall!'
"Is that any worse than what you're doing now?" Suki held her gaze, her brown
eyes boring deep into Kallisti's blue ones. Kallisti shrugged. "He's supposed be
a very generous man.'
"But he's so old...'
"Have you been that fussy? No wonder you've lost so much weight and grown so
skinny!'
"Alright, you win, I'll go and see him tomorrow." Kallisti sighed, giving in to
her friend's persuasion.
"No come on, let's go back and you can do it now. First though take all that
disgusting paint off your face and brush your hair properly." Kallisti grinned
at Suki's nagging but followed her back to town all the same.
"Em hello, I'm trying to find Triad Gall." Kallisti stood nervously before the
servant who had answered the door to his home. She had changed from the
revealing dress of before into a less gaudy one and had taken Suki's advice and
had brushed her elaborate hairstyle out so that she looked less like a
prostitute. The clerk at the council chambers had directed her to where she
would find Triad's house in the midst of the respectable quarter of town to the
north of the harbour.
"Master Triad is in." the ancient looking servant said, looking her up and down.
Kallisti shuffled her feet nervously. "What is your name and business with
Master Triad?" he added after his condecending inspection.
"Kallisti. I heard he was looking for an assistant so I came to see him..." she
found the rapid flow of words tripping off her nervous tongue shuddering to a
halt as she ran out of steam. Her mouth was dry and she found that she did not
like this feeling of nervousness, of being out of control of the situation. Even
after the experiences of the past few months, bringing her face to face with the
more unsavory aspects of adult life and making her grow up very quickly, the
situation she now faced was totally new and it unsettled her as if she were a
child, still wet behind the ears.
"You had better come in and wait while I find out if the master will see you."
the old man opened the door wider and beckoned her in. She found herself in a
very well furnished hallway with three doors leading off. The walls were hung
with tapestries depicting the history of the town and along one wall a polished
mahogany table gleamed dully in the flickering light of the candles in a
candelabra sitting on the table. The servant gestured for her to wait here while
he shuffled to the door at the end of the hall and disappeared through it.
The wait seemed interminable and the quiet atmosphere of the house seeemed
almost oppressive as she worried at her lower lip apprehensively. Suddenly the
door creaked open again, the unexpected noise making her jump. The old servant
came through and waved her to follow him.
"The master will see you." he said tersely, turning his back on her. Moving
after him she found herself in a small circular room lined with books and
various esoteric items, the function of which she had no idea. Sitting behind a
desk in the middle of the room, piled up with parchments was the man she had
come to see.
Triad Gall was a man of middle years with short dark hair greying at the
temples. His appearance was not outstanding, a face one could not easily
describe and very easy to forget. This nondescript appearance was enhanced by
his clothing, all grey, the colour of the Dravidi religion.
The servant deposited her in the room and shuffled off. Triad was hunched over
the desk and appeared unaware of her presence. After a few awkward minutes,
Kallisti quietly cleared her throat to attract his attention. His head rose a
fraction and he scowled at her for interrupting his concentration. With a sigh
of resignation, he leaned back in his chair and spread his hands on the table.
"Well young lady, what can I do for you?" he said quietly, his voice, like the
rest of him unremarkable.
"I - I heard you were looking for an assistant and..." she gulped.
"... and you thought you could fill that place?" he finished her sentence for
her. Kallisti nodded, not trusting her tongue. Triad pursed his lips and nodded
with her. "So, what can you do?'
"I can read and write, and I can draw." she decided to put on a show and be more
forthright.
"Good, that is always useful." Triad nodded again. "What else? Do you know
anything about potions?" Kallisti shrugged.
"Only the common ones for sleep and numbing pain." she replied, trying to sound
confident.
"Can you use a knife - a dagger that is, not a kitchen knife? Have you ever
killed a man?" Triad leaned forward studying her.
"No - no I've never killed anyone." she stammered, put off by the question. "I
can defend myself though.'
"Good, I don't like hiring killers unless it is absolutely neccessary." Triad
sat back smiling faintly. "What have you been doing up to now?'
"I - I ..." she stuttered, ashamed of admitting her profession. Triad smiled
warmly at her.
"Its alright my dear Kallisti, I know very well what you have been doing since
your father disowned you." Kallisti gaped at him. "I make it my business to find
out what is going on in this dear town of ours, even seemingly insignificant
news such as a father throwing his daughter out onto the street to become a
prostitute. You are unhappy in your work?" Kallisti nodded, not daring to look
him in the face, her cheeks flushed with shame. "I think I may be able to find
more suitable work for you." Kallisti looked up in surprise. "I need an assitant
to help me gather information and I would quite like a young lady to keep me
company and do various small services for me." he winked at her. Kallisti,
despite herself smiled and blushed again. "Would you be willing to take the
position?'
"Yes I would, thank you." she replied, adding a wink of her own.
"Good then. If you would like to fetch your belongings from your lodgings, I'll
have the servants prepare a room for you. Oh one final question: I know you are
not dedicated to any god yet, so would you be willing to become a disciple of
Lord Dravidi, God of Theives?'
"Yes my Lord, yes I would." Kallisti replied, happily enthusiastic.
"No Kallisti, you may call me Triad, you are my assistant not my servant.'
The summer night was balmy and still. Distantly a dog barked but was quickly
silenced with a yelp. Kallisti, dressed in grey and wearing a dark scarf over
her blonde hair, crept through the shadows silently cat-like. Her destination
was just ahead, a small house in the quiet residential district south east of
the harbour. Stealthily she moved forward, her hand never straying far from the
dagger she carried at her belt. Nobody would have believed that she was heavily
armed from her outward appearance, but strapped to her thigh under her tunic was
a stilletto dagger whilst under her left forearm was a throwing dagger. Even the
scarf concealing her hair could be used as a weapon. A tough steel wire sewn
into it could turn it into a very efficient garrotte.
Reaching the rear of the house, she crouched low, drawing her dark cloak about
her. Looking round, she fixed the position of everything in her mind and
rehearsed her escape route. Turning her attention to the window beside her
finally, she slipped the slim blade of the dagger through the gap and raised the
catch slowly and silently. With a faint click, it disengaged and the window
opened to her touch.
Inside, the bed was occupied by two people, both deep in sleep. Kallisti's
nostrils flared when she saw this but she controled her anger, redirecting it to
the job in hand. Nimbly she climed over the window-sill and was inside. She
pulled the window closed behind her so that no chance passer-by might grow
suspicious. Swiftly she moved to a chest near the door and knelt down.
A movement from the bed made her freeze in the crouch. The girl occupying the
bed mumbled something in her sleep and draped her arm over the edge. Kallisti
allowed herself to breath again and turned back to the chest. The lock was
simple and she had it open in no time at all. Triad's training over the past
weeks, coupled with what the other Dravidi worshippers she had met in the temple
had taught her gave her the skills to open the chest and find the bag of gold
coins "safely" hidden within. She allowed herself a grin of satisfaction but
then cursed herself, for the gleam of her pearly white teeth could give her away
in the dark if she were not careful.
Dipping into the hoard of gold, she removed roughly half of it and wrapped it in
a pouch she wore around her waist. Before she closed the chest again, she
slipped a small scrap of parchment into the bag. Relocking the chest was
simplicity itself and in a few moments she was outside again, closing the window
afterwards.
Returning to the shadows, she slipped away quietly but the mirth growing within
broke through and despite the fact that it might have given her away she began
laughing. Throwing back the scarf covering her hair she recklessly strode out,
laughing happily. What was tickling her funny bone was the thought of the note
she had left behind - a simple letter of thanks:
"Dear Daddy,
Thanks a lot,
Love K.
xxx'
Skipping along the deserted streets, she found her blood singing in ultimate
delight. Kallisti of Urswell headed north toward her new home, finally at peace
with the world.

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