Listen and hear a tale of our ancestress, Skerri Brightspear.
Sit quiet and listen and I will tell you how she came about her name Brightspear.
Once a spirit of wanderlust had brave Skerri and she wandered far
from her home into the Mother's Land. There she had many adventures but few lovers,
finally coming to the great city Nochet. Skerri was a proud redheaded
follower of Orlanth and disliked greatly the inequity between men and women in that land.
Of no interest to her were the wiles of men who acted like the women of the Dara
Happans. She wished not to be treated as only the gods should.
She was sorely disgruntled then by the time she reached the great
city of Nochet. She had faced many challenges to her martial might from both
women and men but no man had challenged her lust (no follower of Heler, her).
As she waited to enter the gates what should she see but a man of the Dara Happans waiting
to enter with his retinue. And what a man! Tall, golden and handsome he shone
like Elmal himself. He was armoured from head to toe in gold and he bore in his
left hand the most beautiful spear Skerri had ever seen. His retinue were similarly
equipped but none could match his beauty nor could any of their spears match that of
his. Skerri thought to herself, "NOW there is a challenge. That is what I
will be sleeping with tonight or my father does not have fifty sons and only one
daughter." Knowing his reaction already a very much traveled stained and worn
Skerri sauntered over and hailed him.
"Hello beautiful, what's a spearman of your stature doing in a
place like this?" The golden one turned slightly to her raising one quizzical eyebrow
and said, "What a wonderment, here in Esrolia even the trash talks!"
Skerr's grin remained but her eyes grew cold. "Now, now," she said,
"Better mind your manners or I might have to take that pig sticker off of you."
Golden Boy smirked and replied, "Ha, the likes of you taking my family's
ancestral spear? Begone trash or I WILL be forced to dirty it." Skerri smiled
and nodded her chin towards the gate guards, all grim Axe Maidens of Babeester Gor.
"Whose side do you think they'd be on then, I wonder." Golden Boy and his
lackeys grimaced at the thought of the Axe Maidens and looked for a way out of his
predicament. "Never mind, I'll see you later." said Skerri walking off and
swinging her hips saucily as she went to the sound of much amused male laughter.
Seething inside Skerri got back into her place in line (which a
kindly old trader had held for her) and plotted revenge. She finally got in and
spotting a street urchin she motioned her over. Giving her a piece of silver, which
the girl bit to test, she said, "Girl, there's another piece of silver in it for you
if you follow the golden one soon to come into the gate and let me know where he's
staying. I'll be staying at...", Skerri turned and asked one of the guards
where she could stay and from her lofty height the shaved and scarred head looked down and
suggested a nearby inn. "Did you hear that kid?" The urchin nodded
and ran off to wait for the Dara Happan. Skerri took herself to the inn. There
she took a private room and taking off her coat of iron scales and filthy traveling
clothes she arranged for a hot bath. After she had scraped many layers of dirt off
and washed her long red hair she felt much better. Slipping into a dress with a
clean kirtle over it she felt much cleaner and quite a bit less conspicuous.
She went down to the common room and walked up to the bar.
Ordering the finest beer in the house she downed it in one quick gulp. "Not
bad", she told the barkeep. "I admire those who brew such fine beer. Can I
buy some from you?" After some haggling she reached agreement with the barkeep
on the price of a keg. A burly serving man brought the keg up and offered to place
it in Skerri's room for her. Spotting the urchin she had hired earlier she motioned
for the servant to leave the keg where it was. She strolled over and tapped the
urchin on the shoulder before the innkeep could evict her. The urchin cowered away
from the stranger until she looked into Skerri's eyes and realized that she was the same
woman who had given her the silver at the gate. Skerri bent over and the urchin held
her hand out. Placing another silver in her palm the urchin whispered the inn where
the Dara Happan had gone to. Skerri straightened and patted the girl on the back
before giving her another piece of silver.
Skerri turned to the innkeep and asked him where she could find a
herbal healer. The innkeep provided directions and asking that the keg be placed in
her room she went out and headed in that direction. Being mostly unfamiliar with
cities she had to stop and ask for directions several times on her route. Finally she
reached the healers and entered. There she told a sad story of a household plagued
by evil spirits in their bowels. The herbalist behind the counter suggested a strong
purgative and Skerri purchased enough for her entire household. Once she had
finished her transaction she returned to her room, put on a long cloak and taking the keg
up on her shoulders she left the inn.
After some confusion as to route she finally arrived at the inn that
the Dara Happans were staying at. She knocked on the servants door at the back and
told them a sad story of a woman wronged. She asked their aid in vengeance and swore
that none would die at her hand. One of the servants lent her a dress such as the
staff wore and donning it she went out into the busy eating hall and began serving tables.
It wasn't long before her striking good looks caught the attention of the table of
Dara Happans, especially that of their leader. She wandered back and forth past the
table all evening long swinging her hips and casting saucy looks at the table, not
limiting her looks to the head of the table. This behavior got her shocked and
disapproving glances from the local women in the room which Skerri ignored. The
table saw that she was serving nothing but beer and grimacing at the thought they all
called for beer instead of the wine they had been consuming.
Skerri went into the back and brought out a round of beer for the
table which was consumed with more or less enthusiasm depending on how far over the table
she leaned. She leaned the farthest over at the head of the table and Golden Boy
quickly quaffed down his entire mug of beer despite the odd bitter aftertaste and his
dislike for beer. When she asked if anyone wanted another round they all agreed,
Golden Boy the quickest and she slowly sauntered off towards the back swinging her hips in
a provocative manner all the way.
When she brought the second round out and had served it around the
table. Golden Boy grabbed her by the waist and sat her on his lap. Nothing
loath she sat down and allowed him to paw her somewhat. He whispered something in
her ear and she told him that her shift was already over. The pair departed to his
room where they engaged in mutual pleasure with Skerri of course taking a more dominant
role than Golden Boy was used to. He attributed this to the mistaken belief that she
was a local. As they lay together afterwards he suddenly felt an extremely strong
call of nature. Rushing to the jakes he swore and cursed at the local food and
water. "Oh, no," said Skerri laughing mockingly, "Blame not the food
and water but rather the beer which contained a strong purgative which of course I put
there." Golden Boy attempted to leave the jakes to attack her but another, even
stronger attack prevented this and he bellowed for his followers. Groans and
strangled noises where all that answered him and Skerri laughed some more. "You
seem to have forgotten our prior meeting this morning when I tried to be nice to you and
was called trash for my trouble. I swore then that I would bed you AND take your
spear which I have done and am doing so I bid you adieu." With that Skerri took
up the spear where it leaned against a corner of the room, made certain promises to the
spirit within that pacified it and slipped out the window into the street below.
Morning found her on the road again heading homewards, laughing all the way.
And that's how Skerri won her Brightspear.
Last modified October 03, 2000
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