Chapter 11

The following day, the three girls rose refreshed, and after a breakfast Strides-Tall greatly enjoyed, they set out to do some early shopping before making their way to The Phantasia towards mid-day. This was Strides-Tall's first opportunity to shop "properly", buying what she wanted rather than what she needed, and with the prospect of employment ahead of her, she could be more carefree with what money she had.

With Ashyra and Raven directing her to the best shops, the elf started to rebuild her wardrobe, whilst also looking out for dancing costumes. "It's hard to be distinctive when you're on a tight budget", advised Ashyra, "so just go with what you feel comfortable in, and let the dance do the rest."

As far as comfort was concerned, Strides-Tall felt she could do little better than the wonderful tanned deer-skin halter-top and short skirt she found in a leather shop. These items she teamed with a fabulous pair of dazzling red thigh-length vinyl boots with flared cuffs and heels that were slender, like her friends', but around half the height.

"Mmmm - now that works", purred Ashyra, nodding appreciatively.

"Bangles", said Raven, quite out of the blue. 

Strides-Tall and Ashyra both gazed, bewildered, at their companion.

"Bangles round the ankles", the tallest dancer explained. "Gold, I think. A little thing, but it would add a special touch."

Ashyra agreed most enthusiastically, and the next step, with Strides-Tall's wholehearted acceptance, was the nearest jewellery shop.

The Phantasia was a different place altogether in the day-time, but on this particular day, it was still quite busy. All the girls had come in, in full dancing gear, to pose for a new set of publicity pictures, and Strides-Tall was left to meet the other girls whilst Ashyra and Raven got changed.

The elf recognised silver-clad Chal'Shi, a cheerful girl with white streaks in her dark hair at the temples, at once. The girl remembered her too, and made the necessary introductions, making Strides-Tall known to a group who were clearly all friends to some degree, and supported one another.

Last to be introduced was Drasheel, manager of The Phantasia. At first, Strides-Tall mistook him for a woman, slender in build with long hair and dressed as he was in a black leather waist-coat, a short skirt, and lacquered leather thigh-high boots, but as she approached, the elf noticed his obvious lack of more feminine contours.

"Skylla said a new girl wanted to audition", he said welcomingly as he bent to kiss her hand. "Stay and watch the pictures being taken, and you can show me what you can do afterwards."

Seventeen girls in all were being photographed - or whatever Freeport had as an equivalent - and the "photographer" took the dancers from one stage to another, seeing which setting best suited each girl. The Diamond Suite was the most effective, but also the hardest to photograph due to the mirrors and other reflective surfaces, and the photographer nearly had a heart attack fiddling with light levels and angles whilst an increasingly impatient Skylla glared down at him.

The most stunning girl of all, however, was Raven. None of the others had hair to compare with her smooth, straight near-floor-length pure black tresses, and Strides-Tall imagined it would be an awesome sight to see her dance.

Chal'Shi's attention, though, was elsewhere. "So that's the new outfit", said the girl. "Cool - literally..."

Raven's dancing costume was uniformly white, and featured versions of some items she in the day-time, such as her flared-cuffed thigh-high boots, and long white gloves, the latter on this occasion being not satin but the finest leather Strides-Tall had ever seen. The rest of the outfit, the elf had to assume, was "new".

The "rest" was not a lot - a single piece of white leather, cut into an elongated heart-shape, the upper lobes of the "heart" covering her breasts whilst the lower point vanished between her breasts. String-thin things tied the garment in place behind the dancer's neck, round her back, and about her hips.

"Yeah, you said it, sister", murmured Strides-Tall, intending her words for Chal'Shi, but directing them at no-one in particular.

The next words to be spoken came from Drasheel. "I fully expect the pictures of Raven to be especially popular with our customers", he said, close to Strides-Tall's ear. "The Red Lounge is free, if you'd care to do your audition now."

Chal'Shi took Strides-Tall back-stage, into one of the rooms linked by a long, hidden corridor connecting all the stages. There, the silver-clad dancer was impressed by a new costume for the second time in a day. "Oooh, yeah - I like it!", chirped Chal'Shi as the elf slid into her new glossy red boots and buckskin top and skirt. "Those bangles are a great idea!"

Thank you, Raven, thought Strides-Tall, extending her booted legs and seeing the way the narrow rings of gold about her ankles glittered alongside the shiny vinyl.

"Don't go over the top too quickly", recommended Chal'Shi as the dancer-to-be got off her stool. "Just let Drasheel tell you what he wants, and do it. If he allows you to improvise, that's when you can do your wildest thing."

"I just hope my 'thing' is wild enough", said the elf, and she headed for the stage in the Red Lounge. Chal'Shi went ahead, and by the time Strides-Tall got to the concealed doorway leading out onto the stage, slow, sultry music, electrically amplified was already playing.

Strides-Tall stepped out into the lights, an audience of one perched on a high bar-stool at the centre of the floor. She felt many times more nervous now than she had when the Skywolves had her dance for them, but buried the feeling deep beneath her conscious surface and let her instincts, and Drasheel's commands, take control. She did not even notice that she drew a growing audience as she danced, especially once the manager had her take off her top and skirt...

She became so lost in herself, and the feel of the warm air and hot lights against her bare body that she almost missed Drasheel's verdict. "I'm sure we can find a slot for this pretty little thing to fill tonight", he said, sliding off his stool and swaggering up to the edge of the stage. "Raven, Ashyra, make sure your friend is properly acquainted with our terms of service."

***You made it, girl***, Ashyra told her, that seemingly ever-present smile as its brightest, and those words made Strides-Tall believe that perhaps her hardships were behind her at last.

Strides-Tall was looking forward to her first night at The Phantasia, but that attitude changed drastically in the space of just a couple of minutes. She had barely gotten in the door and changed when the other dancers descended upon her, stripped her of her buckskin costume and carried her, at head height, out through the Red lounge and into the lobby. Out there, not far from the foot of the stairs, there stood a tree-trunk on a pedestal, with only one truncated branch, near the top.

I don't like this, she thought, and when manacles were snapped about her wrists, she knew she had been right to be concerned.

Memories of Mashilahantradar, and being bound and helpless as the Dyal had her cruel and degrading way with the elf, came pouring back as she was hung by her wrists on the peculiar contraption of wood and dulled steel. No, she said to herself. Not again...!

Strides-Tall began to struggle, lashing out with her feet at a group of rather surprised dancers. Ashyra seemed most taken aback by her new friend's reaction, glancing at Raven and frowning. ***Raven says you're genuinely scared***, she said to the elf. ***Don't panic - this is a tradition of ours. Every girl goes on The Tree on their first night.***

Only one thought occupied Strides-Tall's mind, and she let everyone who could feel it know. ***Let me down!***

In response, Raven got up onto the pedestal, a gentle, understanding expression on her face. She radiated such an aura of calm and inner peace that Strides-Tall did not object to letting Raven into her mind as the girl cradled the elf's cheek in her leather-gloved hand.

***Let me ease your fear***, said Raven, and when Strides-Tall gave her unspoken consent, her anxiety simply drained away.

Raven shivered but once, her aura of peace dimming briefly, then she stepped down off the platform. "You'll be fine", the dancer said softly, and went with the others as they cleared out of the lobby, leaving Strides-Tall to hang there, naked but for her new glossy red boots. Moments later, the doors opened, and customers started pouring down the stairs - and the elf-girl was the first thing they saw.

Strides-Tall tensed her whole body as the first customer reached up to stroke her skin, and the cuff of one of her boots. Other hands followed to explore her hair, her boots, and the curves of her body, and she drew her fear back inside herself, telling herself over and over again that the club would surely not put any of its girls in any danger...

Streets full of revellers, celebrating good fortune, drowning their sorrows or simply living life to the full, swiftly emptied as the clanking of armour echoed through the night. The owners of the armour passed by unseen, but those who listened closely enough from behind closed doors or shuttered windows could hear the warriors argue.

"They'll throw us out the moment they see us..."

"Let them try, and they'll know they underestimated us."

"Perhaps we could grab ourselves another woman?"

"It's been tried - and Ikurlahaen The Viper hasn't been heard of since."

"We are not Ikurlahaen, nor are we what the rest think us to be. If anyone thinks we are merely 'playing' at being warriors, then let them test their assumption - on the point of our swords!"

The armoured newcomers moved on quickly, a specific destination clearly on their minds. Anyone who heard enough knew where that destination was, and prayed that family or friends had chosen not to visit The Phantasia that night.

And if their ears were especially keen, they would have heard the occasional flapping of leathery wings amongst the cacophony of metal on metal.

Once her first shift of the night was complete, Skylla went to release Strides-Tall from bondage, only to stand spellbound as the elf freed herself, levitating off the hook her chains had been looped over, then springing the catch on the manacles with a lock-pick she had hidden in her boot.

"I'm more than just a pretty face", declared the elf, handing the chains to the First Dancer. "Although", she added, turning round to reveal smeared scarlet lip-paint on her behind, "some people aren't necessarily interested in my face."

"Such is the way of things for a dancer", said Skylla. "You seem more than adequately equipped to walk the path ahead. Go and dress now - we should be able to find a shift for you to fill in the Red Lounge. Do you feel up to it?"

"I need strong arms in my usual line of work", answered Strides-Tall. "I climb a lot of ropes..."

"Picking locks? Climbing ropes? You sound rather like a..."

"...thief? Well, not quite. I return stolen property, mostly", said the elf.

"A lucrative trade", remarked Skylla. "One you might be able to pursue once again. There are people in town you could talk to - but don't let it get in the way of your work here if you do."

"Sounds agreeable", said the adventuress. "Now, where's Raven dancing? Could they use another body there?"

"The Temple of Dreams", said the First Dancer, gesturing to the second archway along the wall of the right of the stairs. "I think Rinni could do with a break."

Strides-Tall got dressed - which did not take long - then trotted along the back-stage corridor to the rear of the performance area of The Temple of Dreams. Peeping through the curtains to one side, she saw the two girls currently on-stage - Rinni, with her red-gold hair in a long pony-tail, and the incredible Raven, her tresses whipping around her slender bare body and brilliant white boots. ***Mind if I cut in..?***, the elf asked Raven. ***Skylla said I could stand in for Rinni for a bit.***

Concealing the gesture in her dance, Raven indicated Strides-Tall's wishes to Rinni, and the elf seemlessly switched places with the blonde. ***Rinni's been off sick for a while, and I think she came back too soon***, Raven told Strides-Tall, making use of the elf's open psychic link as the adventuress strutted up to one of the chrome-plated poles and began to writhe against it. ***This is very kind of you, taking over for her.***

***Maybe - but I really wanted to see you, and say thanks***, the elf replied. ***I thought I'd got over my time with that Dyal witch, but this proved I was wrong.***

The elf focussed now on her performance, but not before taking stock of her surroundings. Earlier, during the photo-shoot, this area of The Phantasia had looked like an old temple, with pale columns rising from the floor to form arches high up at the ceiling, but now that the lights were low, and the chess-board floor was set out with tables and chairs, it was transformed. One final touch made it feel so much like home - concealed projectors were displaying rippling, undulating patterns, created by shining light through stirred oils, on the walls and ceilings. Wow, they do that here too, thought the elf. I always liked that...

The audience seemed to like what they saw as well, for already squares of gold and silver were being tossed up onto the stage at Strides-Tall's feet. Raven already had quite a collection - most of them gold - and from a single glance, the elf guessed that the tall, black-haired dancer had already amassed a small fortune. Business certainly seems to be good for dancers, she thought. I could do all right here...

Suddenly, an armoured figure jumped up onto one of the tables. "That girl is ours!", roared the warrior, his great dark wings snapping out to either side. It was the Battlemaster of the Skywolves, and he was pointing at Strides-Tall.

A man tried to pull the warrior Dyal down, and a sword flashed from its sheath to slice the man's fingers from his hand. Other Dyals started to rise, wings unfolding and fighting steel emerging into the light...

The music stopped. With five other Skywolves supporting him, Astl'Aar took to the air briefly, two flaps of his wings sufficient to carry him onto the stage. Raven and Strides-Tall backed away as the warrior advanced upon them, angry eyes trained on the elf who had brought him shame by escaping from his clutches.

"You", he hissed, "are coming with us..."

"I think you should leave", said Raven firmly, stepping in front of the Dyal fighter. "If you have a problem..."

The Battlemaster slapped Raven aside. The dancer would probably have been a more valuable prize, but he only had eyes for the fugitive - and he therefore did not see Raven get up. Strides-Tall did, and her already large eyes grew larger still as the dancing girl grew as she watched, then Raven shocking sprouted a pair of huge wings, larger than the Dyal's, and originating from the back of her head...

 

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