In Line

Sky and I made it to The Splint. It was a worn down multi-leveled barn with a few coats of old paint. Somehow it was less than expected, but exactly what I was expecting. As we approached closer to the entrance, I noticed there was a couple laid out on the ground. Making out in the mud like pigs, they blocked the door, so we had to step over the couple to enter the establishment. My first step through the rickety doors was met by the smell of beer, sex, and sweat. My next step was cut short.

"Hey! Wipe your feet at the door, we ain't animals," the barman exclaimed from afar.

He wanted me to clean my boots before walking into a room full of people drinking and having sex. I did as instructed before the room could grow volatile.

Sky and I approached the bar as the barman was handing out drinks. The barman was an ugly fat thing. He was a big beast of a male with a balding spotted head and beefy fingers. His thick roles of chin were moist with what may have been drink or sweat. How he managed to fit behind the bar, much less move, was a mystery.

" I'm looking for my brother," I said, taking the direct approach.

"Who's your brother," he asked with disinterest.

It was a strange question. We were members of the royal family. My ego wasn't big enough to find it unbelievable, but it was unlikely he wouldn't know us.

"His name is Louis. His skin is red. His hair is black. He stands taller than me, he caries a set of gold daggers," I informed.

He wasn't listening to a word I said, and his eyes seemed to be on my sister standing behind me.

"Have you seen him?" I asked again.

"Sorry, kid, that don't sound like anyone I know, but tell you what," the pig of a man said before leaning over the counter to get closer.

He licked his lips, and a few drops descended onto the bar and almost on me.

"If you give me time with your friend, maybe then I'll remember something," he suggested.

"My friend? You mean my sister!?"

Even with her standing behind me, I knew she was ready to claw his throat out. I heard her grip the sword on her hip, and I knew nothing good would come of it.

"That's not going to happen, but I can pay you for information if that's what you need," I said, trying to persuade the man from a deadly path.

Before I could pull a single coin from my pocket, my sister had already pushed me aside. She gripped the barman by his chest and held her sword to his throat.

"We are in a hurry, now if you would kindly point the way to our brother we would appreciate your cooperation," she said plainly.

The barman didn't seem phased even as my sister's blade was pressed to his adam's apple. Many men often underestimated my sister due to her sex, but she was a formidable woman. What she lacked in stature strength and build she made up for in speed tact and skill.

"Calm down, princess, your brother is upstairs," the barman patronized.

"Sky, maybe we should put away the weapons," I suggested with a hand on her shoulder.

It became apparently clear the patrons were watching us, but I'm sure my sister didn't care. Had I been absent, nothing would have calmed her temper after being so brazenly disrespected. But I was present. With exasperation in her eyes, my sister slowly released the large male and sheathed her sword. She was steaming, but I took back my position in front of her before she could rethink her course of action.

"What floor is he on?" I asked the barman after laying five gold coins at his fingers.

"Third floor, last room on the right. Try not to step in anything on your way up, kid," he joked as I stepped away.

I started to head upstairs, but Sky wasn't following behind me.

"Aren't you coming with me," I insisted.

"I think you can take it from here brother, I've had my fill of camaraderie for the night," she said before leaving me on my own.

"See you around princess," the pig couldn't help but retort before Sky was out the door.

I could hear him laughing as I continued up the wood steps.

There was a deep scent filling the air of dirt and musk. Women were running around nude as day, men were passed out everywhere,  and wild animals like birds and monkeys roamed freely. Every footstep was met with moisture that only came from sex. How there was so much steam might have confused me had I first understood how there were so many people in such a small barn-like building.

I made it to the third floor, and as I walked down the hallway, there were no doors to hide the many deeds performed by men and women alike. The sights grew worse as I walked deeper into the madness. Making it to the last room on the right was a battle, if not an experience. There was so much calling for my attention.  I was unsure whether I would enjoy giving in or find myself disgusted. I don't know if I found what my curiosity was looking for, but I found enough to stay with me for a long while after leaving that place.

My brother was there, and lucky for me, he had on pants. Lying on the floor with a woman under his left arm and a man under his right, they were both beautiful. There was a bed in the room that perhaps they might have slept in, but it was against the wall blocking the window. I stepped further into the dimly lit room and squatted over my brother, lightly shaking him awake. He wouldn't get up. There was a bucket of water in the corner. I thought I could wake him with a quick splash, but once I picked up the bucket, I realized it was not water. I dropped it and piss splashed. That woke my brother, or maybe it was the warm sensation.

"Par, is that you?" He mumbled with glossed eyes.

I helped him to his feet, trying not to wake his partners.

"What are you doing here," he asked.

"It's our birthday. Mother made a cake, and I thought it might be nice for us all to be there to cut it this year," I said.

"You came to a brothel to get me to come home for the cake?"

It did sound ridiculous when he put it that way.

"Yes," I said.

"I'm sure they have cake here," he suggested as he pulled away from me.

He searched the room for the remainder of his clothes while I took in the sights.

"Mother would be happy if we were all together tonight," I said.

"Sure. I get that. But I have these twins and," he started to say as he slipped his garments on.

He was about to offer me the opportunity to lay with his partners, but I stopped him before he could.

"Let's not," I suggested as I tossed his daggers across the room.

The thought of sleeping with someone who I'd have to pay for didn't feel right, and a person that my brother already slept with only felt worse.

"Fair enough," he said.

We made our way downstairs, but before we could walk to the door to leave, we were stopped.

"Where do you think you're  going?!" The barman exclaimed as he watched our path.

"I'll pay you next time, besides they passed out when it was getting good," Louis joked as we both turned around.

"You owe me for three nights," the pig argued.

"I owe you for two and a half. If you want the other half teach your sluts to stay up till sunrise," Louis corrected.

The door was inches away while the barman was a mile, and yet we were trapped all the same. How was my brother so calm? Perhaps it was the cheap drink he gorged himself on.

"You little shit," the barman exclaimed again.

I couldn't understand why he wouldn't come from his post. The beast of a man might have actually been stuck behind his bar.

"If you got a problem, we could take it outside," Louis suggested.

The barman went silent before he broke with laughter, and so did Louis and several patrons standing around the bar. I didn't get the joke.

"Get the fuck out of here," the pig said to my surprise.

"You get the fuck out of here," Louis taunted the man further.

It was an odd predicament, but we were able to leave. I waited until we were outside to say anything.

"What was so funny?" I asked as the night's air greeted us.

"Frank wasn't about to leave that bar for a while," my brother said.

"But why?" I questioned further.

"Everyone knows if Frank is behind the bar, he's likely to have someone back there with him," he said.

I still didn't get it.

"On their knees," my brother added.

"Oh?!"

It wouldn't take us long to return to the castle. We had horses. Still, on a night like that time moved, however, it saw fit.

"So why did you come for me?" Louis asked.

"I told you, it'll mean a lot to mother," I said.

"Sure, but mother knows I'm not one for the ceremony. She would have been fine. So why come find me," he asked again.

When you're a part of a royal family, one might say you live by a different set of rules. One rule that my siblings and I knew was never to say, "I don't know." When you said those three words, you stated you're incompetent or naive. Even if it was something I had no way of knowing, I never let anyone know. It was important to understand the rule of "I don't know " only mattered when dealing with other royals or people in the castle. We weren't in the castle. My brother would not have cared had I said, "I don't know," and I should have known that, but perhaps our nearing the castle walls made me more "uptight." Rather than answer, I went silent and hoped we would move on as if nothing was said at all. I thought it better to be silent than admit I didn't know something. That did not work.

"I'm waiting," he said.

If I couldn't be silent, my only other option was, to be honest.

"I was curious," I said.

"Of what, or are you going to make me work for this brother," he pestered me for depth.

"You visit The Splint often, and I believe I know why," I admitted.

I definitely knew why. After spending moments in such an establishment, it was hard to avoid its distinct and only values.

"I've never been with a woman, or a male, I've never been with anyone," I confessed.

"And you want to," Louis teased me.

"Yes," I said.

"Then what are we doing trying to cut the cake," he joked.

I went silent again. He wasn't wrong, even if he was wrong.

We arrived at the castle and took a secret entrance inside. There were many passageways only known by the royal family and those responsible for building such stone marvels.

"You know, Brother, The Splint is the perfect place for you to do whatever it is you want to do," he added as we walked stone paths lit by torch lights.

"I don't think it's the place for me," I said.

"Then I'll help you find a place, or hell, ill bring the people to you," he suggested as we approached the exit of the tunnel.

"You would do that for me?"

"Of course, but you'll owe me one," he said.